If you still haven’t made plans for the weekend, check out the biopic ‘The Hammer’ from director Oren Kaplan. ‘The Hammer’ is centered around deaf UFC Champion Matt Hamill and is truly an inspiring and moving story. View the official trailer here.

Hamill, who was born deaf, made his way to the UFC via the third season of “The Ultimate Fighter.” The film, though, focuses largely on his early years, the close relationship he had with his grandfather, his struggles at Purdue University, and ultimately his three national wrestling titles at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and his personal life. But his MMA career, which included notable wins over the likes of Mark Munoz and Tito Ortiz, is also covered.

Oren Kaplan, who directs ‘The Hammer’ is his feature film directorial debut, born in California to an American mother and Israeli father. When he was only two weeks old his family returned to Israel and lived in Rechovot until Oren was 5, his parents got divorced, his mother re-married and moved back with Oren to California.

After studying Computer Science & Engineering at UCLA, Oren worked as an engineer in San Francisco, but then he realized he wanted to give his old directing dream a chance, and moved back to Los Angeles to try Hollywood. He started with Internet stuff for different companies, and over the past three years he has directed for the Disney Channel, but also done work for Comedy Central, MTV, ABC Family, Turner, and an assortment of others.”

“’The Hammer’ is my first feature film, and I am incredibly excited to bring it to the world,” Kaplan told ABBANIBI, “The movie is about a Deaf character who doesn’t know if he should become part of the Deaf community, or try to assimilate with his hearing family. I’ve always thought of a Jewish parallel to this, with a lot of American Jews torn between being a part of the Jewish community, and trying to meld into the broader American secular society.”

Catch ‘The Hammer’ in selected theaters around the country.

Tags: Oren Kaplan