U.S. Sports Festival Recap
Posted by Sal | Filed under Events, Music, Photography, Shows
Not sure how to describe the festival except for saying “Wow!”. There’s something about the legitimacy of sports documentaries that show perseverance and triumph that give you a great feeling inside. There’s a level of authenticity that the larger Hollywood productions just don’t give. At the same time, movies like this need to be made to shed light and bring awareness to certain situations.
Starting opening night, I had the chance to see Running The Sahara and I must say this movie has so many great sports film elements ranging from perseverance to dedication, renewal and spirituality. For those of you who think extreme running is a joke, these 3 men ran across Africa(the equivalent of more than 200 marathons) in one stretch. I liked this movie because the struggle the runners endured both politically and physically to hold on and finish, but also the funny moments that just seemed to balance out the seriousness of what they were trying to accomplish. This was one of my top 3 of the festival. Great film!
The next morning after taking in some of the beauty of Philadelphia I headed over to Broad Street for the Sports Making A Difference panel. At the panel I heard uplifting discussions about the role of sport in peoples lives and communities, sports as a tool to help the homeless, handicapped and countries with conflict, equal sport program rights for women and soooo much more. I felt that this was the beginning to a great start for S.M.A.D and hopefully there will be great things to come. I also want give an unbelievable amount of props to Brian a 10yr old boy lives life at 150%. Even though born with dystonic, quadriplegic cerebral palsy he has the drive of at least 20 men and is dedicated to being defensive coordinator at his local boys football league.
The next film I saw was We Are Young: A Baseball Family. For me this film about Dimitri Young, Delmon and family was the sleeper movie of the festival. This movie hit several homeruns in terms of family respect, how far sports families push their kids comparing how Young Larry(Dimitiri’s dad) pushed him like a drill sergeant(having served in Vietnam and being a pilot) and Dimitri now having kids and how that’s affected his life going forward. This movie takes you through the highs and lows of the 2 baseball players interesting careers. After the movie it was nice to hear directly from Dimitri and his dad in the Q&A after the movie. This also made my top 3 of the festival.
Another standout film was Gunnin For That #1 Spot. This movie was like a nice cold refreshing lemonade for the festival. For me it gave me just what I needed, a dose of incredible skill in basketball, great shots of NYC(including great shots of Brooklyn, where I’ve lived my entire life), great music including some classic funk like “Brothers on The Slide” by Cymande and some head nodding JayZ and in my opinion the greatest Nas song of all time “Halftime”. Also giving this film extra special life was the announcer Bobbito Garcia aka Kool Bob Love, he started off the movie by saying “In NY, you don’t get a nickname unless you earn it” and during the game at the historic Rucker Park proceeded to verbally dish out some very funny moments.
This next film, Renzo Gracie: Legacy is a great documentary and over 10 years in the making and is about Renzo the mixed martial artist know for his incredible jiu-jitsu. Its great to see the amount of respect Renzo has for his father/family and also the style of jiu-jitsu. The film really shows how this man is a true fighter, never turning down matches and when even faced with a loss, he is the most respectable and professional. In the panel after we heard directly from Renzo who attended and recounted some great stories about childhood bullies and how he’s overcome many hurdles to get footage from overseas with the producer. Overall this man is not only a legend but very humble and full of life. He came out and shook everyone’s hand and offered up great stories and inspiring confidence. Renzo is a true champion.
I’m not sure where to start with the film Kassim The Dream but this film hits hard. Honestly this film make the character of Rocky look two feet tall. Kassim Ouma born in Uganda kidnapped, trained to be a soldier at 6 and forced to kill fled to America after getting a boxing visa. After some great wins and a few losses he sees his son after many years and tries to go back to Uganda to see his grandmother and visit his fathers grave(who was killed because he fled). He also see’s how everyone still has no running water and electricity and this all hits Kassim like a bomb. I think everything this man has gone through gives an incredible life lesson on enduring toughness, triumph and forgiveness in and out of sport. There are so many things to take from this story and in the panel afterward everyone speaking with Kassim knows he will be a great ambassador for shedding light on some issues that plague Africa. This film hits like a huge right hook and made my top 3 of the festival. I believe it also took home the best in festival award.
