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GREENSBORO -- Two movies filmed in the Triad will hit screens big and small next week.

"Home of the Giants," shot in 2005 in Greensboro and starring Haley Joel Osment, Ryan Merriman and Danielle Panabaker, is expected to be released Tuesday on DVD.

"The 5th Quarter," filmed in 2008 in Winston-Salem and starring Merriman, Andie MacDowell and Aidan Quinn, will make its public premiere Thursday at the Charleston International Film Festival in South Carolina.

That means that hundreds of Triad residents who appeared as extras in both soon might see themselves on screen.

Filmmakers hope their movies, set against the backdrop of sports, score big with audiences.

"It's a very moving and inspirational story," California filmmaker Rick Bieber says about "The 5th Quarter," which he wrote and directed.

"The 5th Quarter" tells the dramatic true story of Wake Forest University football player Jon Abbate, his younger brother Luke and their family.

After Luke dies in a 2006 car accident, the Demon Deacons dedicate the final quarter of each game to his memory as Jon helps lead the team to its most successful season ever.

Bieber has shown the film to acclaim at private previews and test screenings, including one for Wake Forest associates. But he initially didn't plan to show it at festivals.

"Now I am rather confident that the film will have a theatrical release in the fall," he said. "I thought it would be nice to have it appear in a few festivals, especially in markets where it will have its initial theatrical release."

He said that he hopes to show it in Winston-Salem before it arrives in theaters.

Bieber has had success at the Charleston festival before: His film "Crazy" won its jury award for best feature in 2008.

"Festivals are great for filmmakers," he said. "You get to interact with the audience, and the feedback is very helpful, especially when it comes time to put promotion and marketing materials together."

"Home of the Giants," produced by Greensboro-based SymPics International, received praise at film festivals.

"This appealing, heady independent film won audience fans here at the Chicago International Film Festival," wrote a reviewer for The Hollywood Reporter.

Set against the backdrop of Indiana high school basketball, "Home of the Giants" stars Osment as Gar, a high school journalist covering the basketball team as it vies for a state championship.

When his best friend, the team's star, is asked by a drug dealer to throw the big game, Gar gets caught in the middle.

But "Home of the Giants" did not find a theatrical distributor, said L. Charles Grimes of SymPics.

"Unfortunately, that happens to a lot of great independent films," writer-director Rusty Gorman, an Indiana native, said via e-mail.

The movie's strength is that it doesn't easily fit into one genre. But that also made it challenging to market to potential distributors, Gorman said.

Although sports acts as a backdrop, "Home of the Giants" is not really a sports film.

"It's a coming-of-age story, it's a buddy film, and it's a high school film about relationships," Gorman said. "There are a lot of laughs, some real good scares, and a lot of suspense and tension."

In addition to its release on DVD by Screen Media Films, Grimes said, he hopes to schedule a showing at a local theater sometime soon.

Gorman said he hopes that "Home of the Giants" finds an appreciative audience on DVD, especially among local residents who participated -- some without pay.

"All the guys who made the basketball scenes so realistic and so action-packed -- they did an amazing job," Gorman said.

Contact Dawn DeCwikiel-Kane at 373-5204 or dawn.kane@news-record.com