Oregon Filmmaker, Team Are 'Chasing Sarasota' in Frisbee documentary

Mention Sarasota to a certain group of young men across the country as they throw a Frisbee, and see what it means to them.

“Sarasota is the dream for every single Frisbee player.” 

That’s a line from one Ultimate player from Portland, Oregon, in the documentary, Chasing Sarasota. And the national organization for competitive Frisbee, USA Ultimate, agrees.

“When you say Sarasota, it’s synonymous with high-level Ultimate, and it’s the most prominent event in our sport,” USA Ultimate’s marketing director Andy Lee said.

Ultimate, commonly called Ultimate Frisbee, draws top tier players from around the country for the past 12 years in Sarasota for the USA Ultimate Club Championships, and one man in Oregon tries to capture the sacrifice and the fun that guys put into qualifying for the event in a documentary, Chasing Sarasota. 

Matt Mastrantuono, 25, is both a full-time filmmaker and part-time hardcore Ultimate player for Portland Rhino. His friends on Rhino have chased Sarasota to no avail,coming up just short, and this past year Mastrantuono documented his teammates’ journey and life for the sake of Ultimate.

“It’s been a couple years now of being a couple points away,” Mastrantuono told Patch in a phone interview. “It’s really difficult when you train 10-11 months out of the year and your mind is focused on one goal and you come up short like we have.” 

Mastrantuono, who runs Blurred Lens Productions, is fundraising post-production costs on Kickstarter.com to help pay to distribute and market the film.

In 2010, Rhino had a chance to go to Sarasota with the disc on the goal line. 

“We were completely in charge and collapsed, and got left out,” Mastrantuono said.

In 2011, it was time to be the rebuild, and that’s what he wanted to capture. The thing is, he wasn’t in a position of total objectivity, but it actually worked in his favor, having to work with his friends and teammates. 

“If we were going to do it, we were going to do it 100 percent and let the cameras roll, capture the good and bad and everything in between,” he said.

“I think we did a good job of allowing the cameras to integrate into the fabric of the team,“ he said. “At points when things were tense or a contentious issue came up, we really didn’t even acknowledge the cameras. We didn’t pay too much attention to it.” 

The trailer, shown above this story, shows the training, the injuries, and the down-to-earth personalities of everyday men trying to be the best unpaid semi-pro athlete they can be.

“I grew up in New Jersey, went to college in Ohio and moved out to Oregon. In a group of thousands of people in the city, I could immediately relate to and have friends and a network,” he said. “It’s a very tightknit community that transcends geography and gives you common ground with people.”

Ultimate “really consumes most of your non-professional life,” Mastrantuono said. “It actually consumes some of your professional life.”

Alas, Rhino faced the same team to qualify for the championships, had one fewer bid to get in, and lost by three points.

“It’s something we definitely take hard and personally,” he said. “We all are going after one goal. It’s quite the heartbreak.” 

His goal is to make it relatable beyond the Ultimate community.

“I think it’s really relatable,” Mastrantuono said. “I think not making it and failure in general is something people can really empathize with.”

The movie isn't about making Ultimate into a story, he told Sky d magazine:

"I didn’t intend to use this film as a catalyst for promoting Ultimate, I really just wanted to tell a story about a sport and team I love. At the end of the day though, if it’s able to promote my favorite sport and help advance the Ultimate community, I’m all for it!"

USA Ultimate, the national governing body for the sport of Ultimate, has not screened the film, but is familiar with the film and the Rhino team, Lee said.

“It’s unique in my sense that I don’t know if a documentary like that has been done before,” said Lee, who added, he isn’t a film buff on Ultimate movies. Still, from what he’s seen on the trailer, “that would be of interest to the Ultimate community and sports fans in general.

“People are tremendously aware of the structure of sports and of Ultimate, and people play it at the highest level and what constitutes the biggest and best tournament of that sport,” Lee said. 

Mastrantuono’s goal is to raise $10,000 for post-production costs for the film. So far, he has raised $4,784. 

Here’s what he wants to do with Chasing Sarasota:

" • Paying for color correction, sound mixing, animation and a score.

     • Creating a Chasing Sarasota website.

     • Creating DVDs and Blu-rays of the finished product.

     • Making posters and fliers to promote the film.

     • Taking the film to a city near you!"

His strategy is to visit communities with strong Ultimate communities and organize screenings and a Q-and-A, sell merchandise and have a party, he said.The film is expected to be released in spring/summer 2012.

Mastrantuono hopes Sarasota can be on that list of cities “near you.” After all, Mastrantuono never had a chance to film in Sarasota because the team didn’t make it, but it would be very appropriate to screen the film here due to the title, he said. 

“I would love to,” he said. “I’m telling people right now, ‘If there’s a community that’s willing to support it, I’ll go as long as I can find a way to break even.”

Mastrantuono isn’t sure if he’ll do a sequel because you can’t plan on the team making it the year he decides to film, but 2012 could be the final year any team is chasing Sarasota.

USA Ultimate’s agreement with Sarasota ends in 2012, and talks are ongoing to have the event stay here, Lee said.