On Thursday, July 18, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Pirates Charities are proud to present the Opening Night of “Heading Home, the Tale of Team Israel,” a documentary by Seth Kramer, Daniel A. Miller, and Jeremy Newberger, at Regent Square Theatre in Edgewood as part of the film’s Opening Weekend in Pittsburgh.

The event begins at 7:30 p.m. and includes a FREE screening of the documentary as well as a Q&A with MLB.com reporter and film producer Jonathan Mayo, Pirates play-by-play announcer Greg Brown and a special appearance by Pirates president Frank Coonelly. In addition, the evening will include a fun street fair in Frick Park on South Braddock Avenue from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The street fair includes appearances by Pirates pitcher Joe Musgrove from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., the Pirate Parrot and Mensch on a Bench from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., as well as great Pirates giveaways, food, games and more.

Special tickets are required for the film’s screening and the free tickets are now available at eventbrite.com/e/heading-home-to-pittsburgh-pirates-celebrate-jewish-community-tickets-64234364714. The street fair is free and open to the public.

Heading Home is a documentary charting the underdog journey of Israel's national baseball team as they compete for the first time in the World Baseball Classic. After years of defeat, Team Israel is finally ranked among the world's best in 2017, eligible to compete in the prestigious international tournament.

Their line-up included several Jewish American Major League players―former Pirates first baseman Ike Davis, Josh Zeid and former Pirates catcher Ryan Lavarnway―most with a tenuous relationship to Judaism, let alone having ever set foot in Israel. Their odyssey takes them from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem where they are greeted as heroes, to Seoul where they must debunk their has-been, wannabe reputations. With their Mensch on the Bench mascot by their side, the team laughs, cries, and does much soul-searching, discovering the pride of representing Israel on the world stage.

After opening the Pittsburgh Jewish Film Festival in 2018, “Heading Home, the Tale of Team Israel” comes to Pittsburgh for its theatrical debut after its world theatrical premiere in Boston, MA, in December 2018. The documentary is now scheduled to play at Regent Square Theatre for an entire week with times and dates available here: cinema.pfpca.org/films/heading-home. On September 6, the film opens in theaters all over New York and Los Angeles.