World Premiere

On Thursday I was looking at a Facebook page I had just heard about which lists upcoming events in Moldova.  As I scrolled down, I saw this article, and muddled through the Romanian enough (it was helpful that "Tony Hawks" was in English  :) ) to realize that the movie "Playing the Moldovans at Tennis" was going to be premiering the very next night!  I knew Pete would be excited about this since he had read the book by the same title before we came here.

The story is about a British man who goes through with an eccentric bet -- that he could beat all of the members of the Moldovan national football team at tennis.  The author (Tony Hawks) came back here to Chisinau a couple of years ago to film the movie re-creation of the story, and wanted to premiere the movie here as well.  (All of the proceeds go to a hospital for children that he helped to set up here -- very cool.)

Pete and Strider ventured out to watch it last night;  all of the flyers and information we could find online just seemed to indicate it was open to the public.  However, when they arrived, they found this was not the case.  The "guard" told them they needed to have special tickets, and sure enough as they looked around, everyone else seemed to be holding the same green piece of paper.

They decided to stick it out, though, and see if there might be room for them after all.  (Strider found out later that while they were waiting outside, he was actually standing in very close proximity to Tony Hawks, and "could have talked to him!")  Thankfully, right before it was to start, the British ambassador told the "guard" to let Pete and Strider in sans tickets!

Mr. Hawks introduced the film -- and was reportedly very funny.

The movie proved to be quite entertaining as well, and the guys were excited to see various parks and landmarks around the city, spots in which we've stood, walked and played.  Pete says he wants to buy the DVD version someday and have a screening for friends and family at home.  The end of the movie features the loser of the infamous bet singing the Moldovan national anthem in the center of London -- completely naked (edited for film).  So you know it's a fun movie.  :)

It was an exciting experience for the guys -- probably for Strider one of the highlights of our whole trip!