Faith-Based Film 'The Hill' Hits No. 1 on Netflix, Takes Home Major Movie Award
A faith-based film featuring Dennis Quaid is the top streaming movie on Netflix and has now won a major award, just five months after its release in theaters.
The Hill, which chronicles the remarkable journey of baseball player Rickey Hill to the major leagues, hit No. 1 on Netflix's Top 10 movie chart in late January.
"No words! Netflix #1 movie in America! Crazy! Keep the thumbs up and we'll stay awhile. Thank you all for your undying support!!" wrote the film's director, Jeff Celentano, on Instagram.
The movie, released in theaters last August, highlights Rickey's battle with a degenerative spine disease as he overcomes challenges to play in the major leagues.
Dennis Quaid plays Pastor James Hill – Rickey's father and a Baptist minister.
The movie project was Quaid's seventh last year marking a career milestone for the actor.
Quaid recently opened up about how he came to have a relationship with Jesus Christ telling People Magazine last year he had a "white light experience" when he checked himself into rehab, or what he referred to as "cocaine school."
READ Dennis Quaid Reveals 'White Light Experience' That Led to His Salvation Through Christ
"I remember going home and having kind of a white light experience that I saw myself either dead or in jail or losing everything I had, and I didn't want that," he said.
After God helped him turn his life around, the actor has turned away from movies with unbiblical content.
The Hill also stars Colin Ford as Rickey, whose Instagram profile reads "Phil 4:13".
Ford recently accepted the movie's first award.
The Hill won Best Family Feature Film at the Family Film and TV Awards, beating out Barbie, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and Shazam! Fury of the Gods.
"I'm shocked and honored to accept the award for Best Family Feature Film on behalf of 'The Hill.' To be amongst such great other films is a blessing. Thank you to The Family Film Awards," Ford wrote on Instagram.
Celentano told Christian Headlines that The Hill took 17 years to make.
"I read the script and bawled my eyes out and never looked back. It just got inside my soul. Like Rickey determined to play baseball, I was determined to get this movie made," he explained. "And I had no choice. People were like, 'Jeff, give it up, move on. It's taken you years.' …I just fell in love with the story and this unbelievable resilience this little boy had who was crippled and ended up, you know, going to try out for the major leagues with everything against him."
Celentano adds the film is touching hundreds of people.
"Every little boy and every town across America can relate to being bullied, made fun of," he said. "...He just kept smiling. That's what got me -- like (he had) unconditional love for everybody. And his faith in God just carried him through."
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