Watch an interview withHoop Dreams Director Steve James at the 2009 Full Frame Film Festival in Durham, NC, where James curated a sidebar of documentary films entitled The Sporting Life.
Hoop Dreams was revolutionary both in terms of scope and due to its immense popularity. In fact, when the film failed to gain a nomination for best feature documentary at the Academy Awards, a public outcry ensued and the selection process was modified thereafter. In 2007, the International Documentary Association named Hoop Dreams the No. 1 documentary in film history.
Read more from Rob Harrington’s interview with Steve James prior to the festival.
William Gates, the subject of Steve James’ genre-defining basketball documentary HOOP DREAMS, told a panel of filmmakers that attending this year’s Full Frame Film Festival (his first, by his count, and just the fifth time he had watched the film) “reminded me of how I pursued the game of basketball– I wanted to be the best at it.”
Indeed, seated with Gates were among the best filmmakers in their league: Barbara Kopple (HARLAN COUNTY USA, FALLEN CHAMP), George Butler (PUMPING IRON, THE GOOD FIGHT) and Steve James (HOOP DREAMS), along with two promising new players in Arturo Cabanas (MAN UP) and Andrew Lang (SONS OF CUBA). James had organized the panel in culmination of this year’s excellent sports film series, “This Sporting Life.” But aside from the amount of talent gathered in close proximity on the Durham Arts Council stage, the truly remarkable event was Gates’ recounting of the impact of being on the other end of the camera.
“He we are, 20 years later … and I’m sitting here talking about HOOP DREAMS,” Gates said. (The film was released in 1994, but began filming five years earlier.) “That’s what documentaries do.”
It wasn’t always so easy: Gates said that after the film was released, his high school shunned him, his teammates “must have hated” him for the attention, and the NCAA revoked his and Arthur Agee’s athletic scholarships for becoming “professionals.”
“They said we were professional athletes because they thought HOOP DREAMS was going to make money,” he said. “Imagine that: documentaries making money.”
Now, Gates said, his high school uses HOOP DREAMS for recruiting, and though he never achieved NBA fame, he uses the film as “bragging rights around the house” to tell his son that he is in the upper echelon of athletes like Michael Jordan with films dedicated to them. Many NBA stars, in turn, cite the film as an early inspiration to pursue basketball. And, perhaps most important, Gates said that the film allowed him to “always have” the voice of his brother, who encouraged him to become a great player, and was killed in 2001. Continue reading »
William Gates in HOOP DREAMS, directed by Steve James. A Fine Line Features release.
It’s another beautiful day in Durham. Flowers bloom, birds sing, and the Full Frame doc fest hits the home stretch.
Last night we went to bed with visions of Zidane in ZIDANE still burned into the retinas, and the Africanist polyrhythms of Youssou N’Dour in I BRING WHAT I LOVE ringing in the ears.
Today, however, begins and ends with basketball: At 10 a.m. there’s a free community screening of Steve James’ and Peter Gilbert’s indelible HOOP DREAMS. See our interview with James here.
And tonight at 8:47 p.m., local doc fans will have a dilemma: Movies or the Final Four semifinal between UNC-Chapel Hill and Villanova. I’ll opt for the former. There are just too many good movies to pass up.
In between the basketball today, the movie highlights include Indy pick hits THE COVE, BURMA VJ: REPORTING FROM A CLOSED COUNTRY and REPORTER. Also, two of our writers saw Eva Weber’s short, STEEL HOMES, and recommend it highly (it precedes OBJECTIFIED). Click here for the Indy’s review capsules.
Elsewhere, the late St. Clair Bourne is remembered with a screening of IN MOTION: AMIRI BARAKA. Another big event is THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE; tickets are scarce for this look at the production of Vogue’s biggest issue, the multi-pound titular doorstop).
For all the movies, I confess that, if I have an opportunity late this evening, I might wander past the television in the Marriott Hotel bar—and not because we saw Colin Firth and Patricia Clarkson having a drink there last night.
Lisa Creech Bledsoe on "Notes from IgniteRaleigh: To be a spark, and not to be rickrolled": "Speed dating for the tech set," funny! Nice write up of an incredible event. I'm voting for Scrubby next year. Scrub-by, Scrub-by, Scrub-by!
Lisa aka @glowbird (the boxing chick)
DK on "Notes from IgniteRaleigh: To be a spark, and not to be rickrolled": Just moved back to the Triangle from Seattle, which is where Ignite started. It kind of caught on and blew up really fast, and organizers had to keep upping the venue.
I think people have been looking for this kind of cabaret for a while. They like going somewhere and being a crowd together, and it's
Christine Fawley on "Notes from IgniteRaleigh: To be a spark, and not to be rickrolled": A fabulous night highlighting the diversity of talent and intellectual pursuits here in the Triangle. An event like this could be held every month and still barely scratch the surface of the passions of our community.
We were honored to be included and appreciated the support and enthusiasm of the crowd as we delivered "20
