Synopsis & Director's Statement

Synopsis

In a world obsessed with competition, Mystic Ball explores a different way of being. Greg Hamilton’s chance encounter with a strange rattan ball in a Toronto park sparked a passion that would eventually lead him into the heart of Myanmar. Captivated by the ball and the challenge of using only his feet and knees, Greg spent the next two decades playing every day, usually alone—not to achieve a goal but for the sheer joy of the play.

After years of daily practice, Greg began experiencing something unexpected – moments of pure flow where the ball seemed almost alive, where movement felt like bird flight or an animal slipping through the water. The playing had become something closer to meditation than sport.

The film follows him to the source of this obsession to seek coaching from the masters of Chinlone, the traditional sport of Myanmar. What he discovers is a culture where the playing is fast, intricate, and entirely collaborative. As Greg struggles to learn the Burmese style, he is met not with judgment, but with warmth and generosity.

Mystic Ball is a deeply moving film about how a sense of family can be found in the most unexpected places. It centers on the amazing skills of the Burmese masters and the profound connection they share with a man from the other side of the world. It is a story of luck, determination, and kindness, all connected through a simple ball.

Director's Statement

One afternoon in a Toronto park I heard an odd clicking sound and looked over to see a man keeping a strange ball up with his feet. I could see right through it. I couldn’t stop watching. Finally, I went over to ask about the ball. That chance encounter changed my life.

The ball was used in chinlone, the traditional sport of Myanmar—a game virtually unknown outside its borders, and a country I knew nothing about. Over the following years I learned that chinlone is a sport that creates connection and love rather than conflict, that demands fierce effort and deep skill, but has no winners and no losers. In a world that has too much competition and aggression, chinlone felt like something that deserved to be known.

I made this film because I love chinlone and because I wanted people outside of Myanmar to experience this beautiful game and the extraordinary skills of its master players.

I’ve been playing now for over 43 years and as one of the elder master players says in the film "The deeper you get the more difficult you will find it." I play every day that I can, I never enough of it. I believe that I'm doing a kind of magic when I play. I think it's incredible that I'm playing this ball on top of another ball that is spinning and orbiting around other balls in space. And the force that keeps all those balls in orbit is the same force that connects me to the chinlone ball.

At the premiere of Mystic Ball, a young boy asked me "Why is it mystic?" What a great question! I told him that for me, chinlone was like a shadow of something else, and that something else is still a mystery.