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Filmmaker Sonia Gonzalez-Martinez's documentary, Bragging Rights, is a nostalgic look back at stickball, a sport as New York as it gets. After years of working on her project, she is finally screening it in a big way, at Central Park Summerstage on July 9th.

Tell us a little about yourself
I'm a boricua born in the Bronx, raised in Washington Heights. I've been in the film business since the early 90's. I'm presently a film/video editor. Bragging Rights is my first feature film. I just got married to one of the stickball players but only AFTER the film was done. I don't want heads to think I made the film to troll for a husband; that totally came out of the blue! I stayed connected to the stickball community after the film and still go to most of the stickball games in the Bronx.

What first interested you about stickball?
I was interested in two things: how different ethnic groups share space and how men bond. Back in the day, Harlem, for example, was divided along racial lines: African-Americans and Irish were on the west side, Italian-Americans were on the east side and Puerto Ricans were sandwiched in the middle. If they crossed into each other's neighborhood, it was a guaranteed beatdown. Except for Sundays when they crossed into each other's hood to play stickball. From playing, they learned more about each other and a lot of the racial tension was dissipated and strong lifelong friendships were formed. It's also fascinating to me how men bond because it's obviously SOOOO different from the way women bond. It seems, at times, very aggressive to me (not in a bad way). How men interact trips me out; they would snap on each other mercilessly, yell in each other's faces, then smack butts and it was all love. If women did that to each other, it would be the end of the friendship! But how I experienced the stickball players interact was also very tender and emotional at times; they hug and kiss and have each other's back in a very real way, no matter what.

Is stickball still being played?
Stickball is still played with passion in East Harlem, the Soundview section of the Bronx, and in Florida, San Diego and Puerto Rico by transplanted New Yorkers who can't stop playing the game. There are still old-timers who play the game (men well into their 60's and 70's) and there are kids being introduced into the game by family. The Bronx league, known as the New York Emperors Stickball Leaue, has an active Kids League.

Tell us about the challenges you went through to get this documentary off the ground
I was very inexperienced when I started this film in 2000. That was a good and not-so-good thing. It was a good thing in that sometimes I was just filled with passion to do this project and didn't get caught up on the "right" way to make a documentary. It has a lot of the raw energy that is similar to that of the game of stickball. I put a lot of my own money into it and just kept shooting every season for 3 years. Latino Public Broadcasting then gave me production money to finish and I hired an amazing crew and editor. The not-so-good thing about being inexperienced was being ignorant to important things like music rights. The DVD release is being held up because I still need to either clear music rights or replace all the music with original music. It's a pain because I'm very attached to the music in this film, a lot of the boogaloo and jazz. But I'm working that out now and hope to have the DVD ready for sale by the end of 2008. Making a documentary is no joke and definitely not for the faint of heart. It was also very interesting being boricua, making a film about mostly boricuas; that felt good, to be part of the community documenting our community. Too often, I feel like we see "safari films," films about our community by non-Latinos that feel strange and disconnected, like "here's Papo in his natural habitat, cashing a welfare check, drinking a 40." Not all non-Latino filmmakers do that and there are a lot of good films out there but it is important for us Latino filmmakers to use our insider views to give proper perspective to films about us.

What is it about stickball that has made it an enduring sport for so long?
People are drawn to communities that replicate a family dynamic and stickball definitely does that. Most of the players have known each other since they were literally children and many of them are now into their 70's and still close. It's fascinating hearing stories about when these now-viejos were in gangs that played stickball back in the day. One of the guys told me he goes back with one of his teammates when White Castle burgers were 25cents! Stickball is also, like all sports, very competitive. It is definitely not as easy as it looks and the competition keeps the guys connected. It's also interesting that even though all ethnicities played stickball, Puerto Ricans are the ones who keep it going. I asked some of the guys why and for them, stickball represents family and community and staying connected. When they play, the wives and kids are all out there too and everyone knows each other. Stickball Blvd in the Bronx feels like its own universe; every season, it keeps populating and people have been married a long time. Stickball has alot of old-fashioned and beautiful values of family and community that's hard to find nowadays.

What other projects are you working on?
I just finished editing "Antonia Pantoja, ¡Presente!," a documentary about the life and work of Puerto Rican educator and activist Dr. Antonia Pantoja. She was one of the founders of ASPIRA and other Puerto Rican organizations that exist to this day. I also produce the behind-the-scenes and DVD content for the Denis Leary F/X show, Rescue Me.

Besides summerstage, where can someone go see your documentary?
Folks could check out the website for future screenings and when the DVD becomes available: www.braggingrightsmovie.com