On this Independence Day, the most American of holidays, a film about what is arguably the most American of sports -- baseball -- had its broadcast premiere in the United States.
But "Kokoyakyu: High School Baseball" is set in Japan and provides a rare glimpse into its unique culture through the people's reverence for the annual high school baseball tournament known as Koshien.
"Kokoyakyu," the first English-language documentary about the Koshien baseball stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, where the tournament takes place twice a year -- was a labor of love for director Kenneth Eng and producers Alex Shear and Takayo Nagasawa, spanning five years from the idea's genesis to its premieres at film festivals throughout the country, and finally on PBS.