NBA Films for Fans

Last updated

NBA Films for Fans is a Canadian short film anthology, which premiered in 2021. Funded by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the first-ever National Basketball Association game between the Toronto Huskies and the New York Knickerbockers at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1946, the project commissioned five emerging Canadian black, indigenous and people of colour filmmakers to create short documentary films about basketball. [1]

Contents

The only rules that the filmmakers were given were that the film could be no longer than seven minutes and 50 seconds in length, and that it had to incorporate footage from the NBA archives. [1]

The films premiered on September 17, 2021, as a special event at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival. [2] They were subsequently released to the web on a dedicated free online streaming platform. [1]

Films

See also

Related Research Articles

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams. It is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and is considered the premier professional basketball league in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toronto Raptors</span> National Basketball Association team in Toronto, Ontario

The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games at Scotiabank Arena, which it shares with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). The team was founded in 1995 as part of the NBA's expansion into Canada, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies. Since the 2001–02 season, the Raptors have been the only Canadian-based team in the league, as the Grizzlies relocated from Vancouver to Memphis, Tennessee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shawn Bradley</span> American basketball player (born 1972)

Shawn Paul Bradley is a German-American former professional basketball player who played center for the Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets, and Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is one of the tallest players in NBA history at 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m). Bradley was born in Landstuhl, West Germany, as his family was stationed at the U.S. military base medical facility, and grew up in Castle Dale, Utah. He holds citizenship in both the United States and Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vince Carter</span> American basketball player (born 1977)

Vincent Lamar Carter Jr. is an American former professional basketball player who serves as a basketball analyst for YES Network, an alternate Studio Analyst for the NBA on TNT, and formerly ESPN. He primarily played the shooting guard and small forward positions, but occasionally played power forward later in his NBA career. Carter was an eight-time All-Star and a two-time All-NBA Team selection. He is the only player in NBA history to play as many as 22 seasons from his debut in 1999 to his retirement in 2020, as well as the only player to play in four different decades. In 2024, it was announced that Carter would be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Bryant Reeves is an American former professional basketball player. Reeves spent his entire career with the National Basketball Association's Vancouver Grizzlies, playing with the team from 1995 until 2001. He was nicknamed "Big Country" by his college teammate Byron Houston after Reeves was amazed by the size of the United States following his first cross-country airplane flight, having grown up in the small community of Gans, Oklahoma.

Sport Select is a group of sports betting games offered by Canada's lottery corporations. In Quebec, the program is known as Pari sportif; in Ontario and Atlantic Canada, it is known as Pro-Line while in British Columbia, it is known as Sports Action. However, the rules for the games are similar in all provinces. Initially created to offer betting primarily on the North American major professional sports leagues, Sport Select has expanded to offer betting on competitions such as the English Premier League and college sports.

The 1995 NBA draft took place on June 28, 1995, at SkyDome in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It marked the first NBA draft to be held outside the United States and was the first draft for the two Canadian expansion teams that were added for 1995-96 season, the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies. Kevin Garnett, who was taken fifth in this draft, is notable for being the first player in two decades to be selected straight out of high school. Garnett ultimately gathered fifteen All Star selections, nine All-NBA selections, one NBA MVP award, and multiple other accolades. Rasheed Wallace and Jerry Stackhouse also had successful careers, being four-time and two-time All-Stars respectively. Wallace won an NBA championship in 2004 with the Detroit Pistons, while Stackhouse scored the most total points in the league in 2000, also with the Pistons.

Gary Dajaun Trent Sr. is an American former professional basketball player. He is the father of current basketball player Gary Trent Jr.

Sean Michael Turrell is a director of music videos and documentary television. He has directed videos for Canadian bands such as Billy Talent, Lights, Protest the Hero, Hedley, MSTRKRFT, Blue Rodeo, Great Lake Swimmers, Magneta Lane and Sum 41. He has also directed videos for Hawksley Workman, Michael Bublé, David Usher, Brendan Canning, Buck 65, Tegan and Sara and Good Charlotte.

Shawn Christopher Respert is an American professional basketball coach and former player. He attended Bishop Borgess High School, and he came to prominence while playing college basketball at Michigan State. He played professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for four seasons from 1995 to 1999. He is being inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in October 2024.

The 1996–97 NBA season was the Raptors' second season in the National Basketball Association. The Raptors had the second overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft, and drafted Marcus Camby from the University of Massachusetts, and started their season with new head coach Darrell Walker. Veteran leadership was added as the team signed free agent Walt Williams, acquired Popeye Jones from the Dallas Mavericks, acquired three-point specialist Hubert Davis from the New York Knicks, and signed John Long, who came out of his retirement. The team also signed Benoit Benjamin, but released him to free agency after only just four games. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the NBA, the Raptors started their season by wearing throwback uniforms of the Toronto Huskies in their season opener against the New York Knicks at the SkyDome on November 1, 1996, but lost to the Knicks, 107–99.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jakob Pöltl</span> Austrian basketball player

Jakob Pöltl is an Austrian professional basketball player for the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Utah Utes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romeo Langford</span> American basketball player (born 1999)

Romeo James Langford is an American professional basketball player for the Salt Lake City Stars of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Indiana Hoosiers. Langford was ranked as one of the highest prospects in the college class of 2019; he finished as the fifth overall prospect in the 2018 247sports rankings. A shooting guard, he was drafted by the Celtics 14th overall in the 2019 NBA draft.

<i>The Carter Effect</i> 2017 Canadian documentary film

The Carter Effect is a 2017 documentary film directed by Sean Menard. It covers the impact of Vince Carter in Canada when he was still playing for the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The film was shown at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival and was produced by LeBron James's digital video company, Uninterrupted. Additionally, interviews of fellow NBA stars, former teammates, family members, and people associated with the Toronto Raptors, combined with archival footage of Carter, were used throughout the movie. Notable appearances in the film include his cousin Tracy McGrady, Canadian basketball star Steve Nash, former NBA commissioner David Stern, and Toronto natives Director X and Drake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thyrone Tommy</span> Canadian film director

Thyrone Tommy is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. After writing and directing the short film Mariner (2016), Tommy received acclaim for his work on the feature film Learn to Swim (2021), both of which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Learn to Swim is a Canadian drama film written by Thyrone Tommy and Marni Van Dyk and directed by Tommy in his feature-length directorial debut. The film centres on a stormy romantic relationship between Dezi and Selma, two talented but troubled jazz musicians.

Finding Big Country is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Kathleen Jayme and released in 2018. The film documents her attempts to trace the whereabouts of former Vancouver Grizzlies player Bryant "Big Country" Reeves several years after his 2001 retirement from basketball.

Kathleen Jayme is a Canadian documentary filmmaker from Vancouver, British Columbia. She is most noted for the films Finding Big Country and The Grizzlie Truth, which examine the history of the ill-fated Vancouver Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association.

Romeo Candido is a Filipino Canadian film and television director. He is most noted as creator of the web series Topline, for which he received two Canadian Screen Award nominations at the 11th Canadian Screen Awards in 2023 for Best Direction in a Web Program or Series and Best Writing in a Web Program or Series.

Shawn Gerrard is a Canadian film and television director from Toronto, Ontario. He is most noted for "Inheritance", a short documentary film he made as part of the NBA Films for Fans anthology project in 2021.

References