"Hoop Dreams" has been called the greatest documentary film ever made, and if I don't quite feel comfortable repeating such an audacious statement, it would be difficult for me to come up with even a handful of other nonfiction movies that compare. The film was an exercise in serendipity coupled with staggering persistence and patience. Three budding filmmakers — Steve James, Peter Gilbert and Fred Marx — received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts to make a 30-minute TV special about two 14-year-old inner-city Chicago basketball players. Five years later, their cameras were still rolling and they had more than 250 hours of footage chronicling not only the on-court exploits of Arthur Agee and William Gates, but also the tumultuous journey of their families and their own carefully guarded hopes and fears.
Hoop Dreams (1994)
Hoop Dreams (1994)
Hoop Dreams (1994)
"Hoop Dreams" has been called the greatest documentary film ever made, and if I don't quite feel comfortable repeating such an audacious statement, it would be difficult for me to come up with even a handful of other nonfiction movies that compare. The film was an exercise in serendipity coupled with staggering persistence and patience. Three budding filmmakers — Steve James, Peter Gilbert and Fred Marx — received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts to make a 30-minute TV special about two 14-year-old inner-city Chicago basketball players. Five years later, their cameras were still rolling and they had more than 250 hours of footage chronicling not only the on-court exploits of Arthur Agee and William Gates, but also the tumultuous journey of their families and their own carefully guarded hopes and fears.