Two ordinary innercity chicago kids dare to reach for the impossible professional basketball glory in this epic chronicle of hope and faith. When the critically acclaimed hoop dreams premiered at the new york film festival last year, william gates was flabbergasted at the outpouring of emotion it elicited from the largely white audience. Hoop dreams is a 1994 american documentary film directed and produced by steve james. He even started a hoop dreams clothing line in the mid2000s with the slogan control your destiny.
With william gates, arthur agee, emma gates, curtis gates. It is about the texture and reality of daily existence in a big american city. William gates was born on december 28, 1971 in chicago, illinois, usa. Hoop dreams commence avec le recrutement darthur agee, 14 ans, par lune des. It is one of the highest grossing nonmusical documentaries in united states.
First exhibited at the 1994 sundance film festival, where it won the audience award for best documentary, kartemquins hoop dreams is the remarkable true story of two american dreamers. And as the film follows agee and gates through high school and into their first year of college, we understand all of the human dimensions behind the easy media images of life in the ghetto. One of the most critically acclaimed documentaries of all time, hoop dreams is a rich, complex, heartbreaking, and ultimately deeply rewarding film that uses high. Recently, hoop dreams was selected for the library of congress national film registry. Filmed over a fiveyear period, hoop dreams follows young arthur agee and william gates as they navigate the complex, competitive world of scholastic. Two ordinary innercity chicago kids dare to reach for the impossibleprofessional basketball gloryin this epic chronicle of hope and faith. In its unflinching portrait of innercity life, hoop dreams is as much a social commentary on class privilege and race division as it is a film about basketball and presents the audience with a lasting deconstruction of the american dream. The film is suitably engrossing as a sports film assuming you like to watch basketball and lots of it but hoop dreams is, of course, a commentary on society, the poor, and the difficulty of. Filmed over a fiveyear period, hoop dreams, by steve james, frederick marx, and peter gilbert follows young arthur agee and william gates as they navigate the complex, competitive world of scholastic athletics while dealing with the intense pressures of. The dream of the nba was not to be, but the simple fact of the matter is arthur agee and william gates are focused on improving lives. It gives us the impression of having touched life itself. Hoop dreams is a 1994 american documentary film directed and produced by steve james, frederick marx, and peter gilbert, with kartemquin films.
Hoop dreams is now available in bluray and dvd special editions from the criterion collection. Nov 10, 2009 hoop dreams 1994 is more than a story. The brady bunch movie, just cause, billy madison, mr. Rent hoop dreams 1994 on dvd and bluray dvd netflix.
In 1995, director steve james hoop dreams returned to rural southern illinois to reconnect with stevie fielding, a troubled young boy he had been an advocate big brother to ten years earlier. He began a film to discover the forces that had shaped stevie. This movie provides an excellent way for families to talk about issues such as race and class in urban america, longterm goals, teen sex and drug use, and. Hoop reality is the sequel to the 1994 documentary hoop dreams and explores what happened during the last. Find out where hoop dreams is streaming, if hoop dreams is on netflix, and get news and updates, on decider. When the filmmakers began, they planned to make a 30minute film about eighthgraders being recruited from innercity playgrounds to play for suburban schools. In 1986, filmmakers steve james, frederick marx and peter gilbert set out to film a 30minute pbs documentary on playground basketball as a.
He is an actor, known for hoop dreams 1994, early edition 1996 and hoop dreams reunion 1995. Feb 28, 2015 heres the opening for the 1995 vhs of hoop dreams and heres the order. One of the most critically acclaimed documentaries of all time, hoop dreams is a rich, complex, heartbreaking, and ultimately deeply rewarding film that uses high school hoops as a jumpingoff point to explore issues of race, class, and education in modern america. The real thing the current the criterion collection. Hoop dreams painstakingly tempers the romanticism characteristic high school athletes by paying special attention to the many roadblocks that stand in the way of gates and agees dreams.
For this new remaster, criterion has gone back to the betacam source and created an hd master of the movie, which is presented here in its original aspect ratio of 1. A film following the lives of two innercity chicago boys who struggle to become college basketball players on the road to going professional. With james brown, arthur agee, william gates, peter gilbert. An oscarnominated film and one of the most widely discussed and wellreceived documentaries of the decade, hoop dreams chronicles the universal process of. It is at once an allegory about striving to achieve, and the politics and pressures of achievement. Two ordinary innercity kids dare to dream the impossible professional basketball glory in this epic chronicle of hope and faith. One of the most acclaimed and successful documentaries ever, hoop dreams tells the story of arthur agee, william gates, and their families over a 4. A hoop dreams reunion will reveal what has happened in the lives of agee and gates since the conclusion of the film.
It takes us, shakes us, and make us think in new ways about the world around us. First exhibited at the 1994 sundance film festival, where it won the audience award for best documentary, kartemquins hoop dreams is the. It follows the story of two africanamerican high school students in chicago and their dream of becoming professional basketball players. Frederick marx achieved international fame for a film he cowrote hoop dreams with steve james the director of the film. It follows the original basketball hero past his dream and into reality, examining where life has carried him over the decade, and taking a look at where he is today, as. What are the release dates for hoop dreams 1994 answers. And despite being famously snubbed by the oscar committee, it is the most successful and critically acclaimed documentary in american history, roger ebert wrote in 1995 obviously prior to michael moores blockbusters. Hoop dreams is a richly human and profoundly american film. A film like hoop dreams is what the movies are for. Filmed over a fiveyear period, hoop dreams follows young arthur agee and william gates as they navigate the complex, competitive world of scholastic athletics while striving to overcome the intense pressures of family life and the realities of their chicago. It observes, dissects, and records the life of two teenagers in innercity chicago, arthur agee and william gates, with such breadth and depth that it becomes a microscopic examination of human lives. By that point, my dreams had turned from hoops to making films, and hoop dreams was also a revelation in that regard.
Dec 05, 2012 to me the power of the film is the stark reality of the lives of the people portrayed in hoop dreams. But its also a moving and revealing look at the daytoday struggles of two lowincome families living in the projects of chicago. Jazz on the screen is a reference work of filmographic information and does not point to digitized versions of the items described. Highly recommended and not just for those interested in basketball but by anyone interested in great documentaries. Filmed over a fiveyear period, hoop dreams, by steve james, frederick marx, and peter gilbert, follows young arthur agee and william gates and their families as the boys navigate the complex, competitive world of scholastic athletics while dealing. Him and kevin macdonald are my two favorite doc filmmakers because they can actually direct a feature also. Hoop dreams was originally shot on video and then transferred to 35mm film for its theatrical exhibition back in 1994 remember, there were no digital theaters back then. Filmed over a fiveyear period, hoop dreams follows young arthur agee and william gates as they navigate the complex, competitive world of scholastic athletics while striving to overcome the intense pressures of family life and the realities of their chicago streets. The film is the second doc produced by barack and michelle obama. When the critically acclaimed hoop dreams premiered at the new york film festival last year.
It comes up frequently in conversation with other documentary filmmakers. When arthur agee, the films other reallife protagonist or me made a. Jun 07, 2012 the filmmakers behind the 1994 documentary hoop dreams and one of the subjects of the film talked about the impact of the movie at a recent screening. Full of unexpected turns, hoop dreams ends with gates and agee. The films themes of hope, pain and redemption, its creeping sense that the deck is just stacked against some kids those are even more. That even in less than optimal situations the power to dream is what fuels peoples lives. Hoop dreams in our writers favourite films series, christian bennett explains why the story of two teenagers aiming to make it big in basketball is a slam dunk of a documentary. Self hoop dreams william gates was born on december 28, 1971 in chicago, illinois, usa. He was named a chicago tribune artist of the year for 1994, a 1995 guggenheim fellow, and a recipient of a robert f.
Airing for the first time on television wednesday night on pbs, the threehour hoop dreams is a trenchant film about the rigors and politics involved in bigtime high school basketball. First exhibited at the 1994 sundance film festival, where it won the audience award for best documentary, hoop dreams is the remarkable true story of two american dreamers. Every school day, africanamerican teenagers william gates and arthur agee travel 90 minutes each way from innercity chicago to st. The film earned james the directors guild of america award and the mtv movie award for best new filmmaker. Hoop dreams 1994 has the form of a sports documentary, but along the way it becomes a revealing and heartbreaking story about life in america. This heartfelt and affecting film follows two teenagers chasing scholarships that hold out the chance of a. Joseph high school in westchester, illinois, a predominately white suburban school wellknown for the excellence of its basketball program. Jan 15, 2014 hoop dreams is 20 years old this year, but its eternal. A film following the lives of two innercity chicago boys who struggle to become college basketball. This is the trailer to hoop dreams, the movie that. It follows the story of two africanamerican high school students in chicago and their dream of becoming professional basketball players originally intended to be a 30minute short film produced for the public broadcasting service, it eventually led. Steves first film hoop dreams won every major critics award in 1994, as well as a peabody and robert f. Agee now has five children and still lives in the chicago area. First exhibited at the 1994 sundance film festival, where it won the audience award for best documentary, hoop dreams has been hailed as the great american documentary and.
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