‘We never thought we’d be where we are today’
SHU Community Theatre hosts national movie premiere for ‘The Long Game’ starring Jay Hernandez, Dennis Quaid
Nearly 500 people gathered outside the Sacred Heart University Community Theatre Wednesday night for one of Fairfield’s first-ever national movie premieres.
The venue hosted an advanced screening of Julio Quintana’s golf film “The Long Game,” produced by Mucho Mas Media and starring Jay Hernandez (“Magnum P.I.,” “Friday Night Lights” and “The Rookie”) — the event headliner — Dennis Quaid and Cheech Marin. The underdog sports drama, which screened at the White House Tuesday, is based on the true story of five Mexican American high schoolers in Texas, who overcame segregation and financial obstacles to win a state golf championship in the 1950s.
The crowd gathered on the red carpet leading into the venue’s front doors, standing between the litup marquee and three 1950s-style cars parked on Unquowa Road. The decorations aimed to transport attendees back to the film’s setting.
Hosting a national film premiere represents the theater’s expanding role in the town of Fairfield and Sacred Heart University (SHU), Matt Oestreicher, director of the theater, said. In 2019, SHU and Kleban properties partnered to reopen the 100-year-old movie theater as a contemporary arts and education venue.
John Petillo, the president of SHU, said the event reflects how much the school’s performing arts department has grown and the progress the theater has made since its reopening. He said Wednesday’s event marks the theater’s first movie premiere.
“We never thought we’d be where we are today,” he said.
Mike Fonseca, a longtime Fairfield resident and president of sports agency, The Fonseca Group, helped spearhead
the event. His client Canelo Álvarez, a worldclass boxer, got involved in the film as a producer after Fonseca met Javier Chapa, the film’s producer and founder of Mucho Mas Media, last year.
Fonseca pitched the idea to host a premiere in Fairfield to honor the Mexican Open, an annual golf tournament.
“I said, ‘Listen, let’s do something that hasn’t been done in Fairfield,’” he said.
Al Valdovinos, Director of Outside Services at The Patterson Country Club in Fairfield, sent out an invitation to his network of people of Mexican descent involved in golf at country clubs in the tri-state area. About 40 of those invitees attended.
Fonseca said the film highlights all diverse groups and cultures in America.
“To me, it’s a celebration of every immigrant that came to this country over the last 300 years and dealt with the same challenges and same obstacles. And everyone persevered,” Fonseca said.
The movie is based on the 2012 book “Mustang Miracle” by Humberto G. Garcia. The author played golf with J.B. Peña, the superintendent of San Felipe Independent School District in Del Rio, Texas, who coached the five students to win the championship and form the school’s first golf team. Peña died in 1986. Movie director Julio Quintana discovered the book in 2020 and decided to adapt it, according to the San Antonio Express.
The production team had to independently raise funds for the movie. Four years later, it’s being screened at The White House and southeastern Connecticut, a hub for affluent golf courses.
“It’s great to bring this kind of story to Connecticut. Even though it took place in Del Rio, Texas, on the border, it’s a global film, and it has that universal connectivity and the themes that I think global audiences can relate to,” Chapa said.
Chapa said the White House screening “validates the film in a big way.” He said it’s a challenge to tell stories for and by the Latino community.
“I think any movie is hard to get made. True stories and underdog stories have a big audience, but they’re not sort of movies that Hollywood inherently always makes. I think Hollywood is making a lot of bigger event films right now. But I think it’s really important
to tell these stories, especially true stories, inspirational stories in a world where we need hope,” Chapa said,
The organizers also made a whole day out of the movie premiere. Hernandez, who plays Peña, played golf with the Sacred Heart University golf teams and with the kids of First Tee of Connecticut at The Patterson Club, Oestreicher said.
Several of those kids were part of the Bridgeport Caribe Youth Leaders (BYCL), an organization that provides youth access to leadership opportunities, John Torres, the executive director of the organization said. Torres and several of the kids attended Wednesday’s premiere.
“I think (the film) is relevant every day because it talks about how important it is to overcome obstacles that we face. Also being resilient. One thing I can say about the kids that we serve in Bridgeport, they are very young. So, they just need to be exposed to the pathway. They need that mentorship, that guidance, and more important that inspiration
that they can do it,” Torres said.
Torres sees parallels between the story of his organization and the film. This year, after discovering the schools had no golf teams, the new superintendent of Bridgeport Public Schools, Dr. Carmela M. Levy-David, and Torres worked together to include golf in gym sessions and partner with First Tee on the outdoor clinics, he said. Starting this year, BYCL is partnering with First Tee on a once-a-week golf clinic for sixth to eighth graders.
Hernandez was mingling with the crowd outside the theater during the premiere, having met Vice President Kamala Harris at the D.C. screening earlier this week.
He said this film can teach kids valuable lessons at a young age, and instill hope in those with little access to certain industries. He told this lesson to kids at the clinic.
“There are opportunities out there. And whatever you think your path in life is. There’s something beyond that if it doesn’t rise to the level
that you think it should. So, it’s really just aspirational,” he said.
Hernandez relates to Peña’s feelings of being an outsider and entering an industry where resources aren’t offered.
“The world he was stepping into was golf, and the world I stepped into was film and television. And when I first started almost 25 years ago, I didn’t have mentors. I kind of had to wing it, (and) I had to sort of find my way through the weeds,” he said. “And many years later, I’m still here, so I’m very thankful for that.”
He didn’t realize it until the day before the premiere, but his template for the character was inspired by his father and what he stood for. In the movie, Peña, a World War II veteran, battles maintaining pride for his country that won’t respect him because of his race.
“(My father) loves his country. He was a union guy for his whole life and retired. We always flew the American flag over our front porch,” he said. “And it very much parallels J.B. Peña’s story.”
Cheers and applause erupted from the audience after the movie ended and the credits appeared on screen.
Fonseca got onstage and predicted that the film would win an Academy Award.
“It’s a beautiful story,” Fonseca told Hearst Connecticut. “It’s an American story about these Mexican American kids that persevere with hard work and passion. There are some great life lessons in the movie. And I think it’s something that audiences can appreciate.”
“The Long Game” was released in theaters across the U.S. on Friday.