A team of altar boys enters a basketball tournament in desperate hope of confessing to the Pope after one of their pranks turns deadly. (family comedy)

SYNOPSIS:

In a circa 1970s Catholic parish, grade school altar boys form an unlikely basketball team bound by equal parts friendship, fear, and a secret that clangs in their chests louder than a bricked free throw.

After enduring the iron rule of Sister Manuela — a disciplinarian whose glare could scare the devil out of anyone —the boys hatch a harmless prank meant to give her a good scare. Unfortunately, the joke spirals out of control as Sister Manuela suddenly dies. The boys are left staring into a moral dilemma they could have never imagined.

Terrified of eternal consequences yet too ashamed to confess, the boys convince themselves they can only confess directly to the Pope, who is scheduled to visit their city. The problem? Access to him is reserved for the winners of a Catholic School basketball tournament.

What follows is a scrappy, soulful climb through the tournament ranks. The squad of undersized misfits, mismatched in skill but united in guilt, transform their fear into focus. Games become confessionals in motion — every pass a plea, every shot a whispered prayer. Along the way, their novice coach, a local priest, learns the X's and O's of hoops to help steer the Monarchs past worthy opponents. All while not knowing that his squad is living in dread.

As the championship game looms, the weight of their secret threatens to fracture the team. Only victory could grant them absolution -- but what if the worst possible scenario happens and they lose? Someway, somehow, this team of Monarchs must figure out a way to gain access to the Pope no matter the final score.

A coming-of-age story draped in culpability and grace, Altar Boys blends humor with spiritual reckoning, where salvation might hinge on more than just a buzzer beater.