“Since its inception, the Sundance Film Festival has been showcasing sports films,” said David Courier, the Sundance program director. “‘Hoop Dreams,’ arguably one of the best sports films of all time, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1994 and won the Audience Award.”
Following in that theme, the 2012 festival, which ran Jan. 19-29, premiered three sports documentaries: “China Heavyweight,” “Bones Brigade: An Autobiography,” and “The Other Dream Team.”
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You never know what to expect upon entering the theater for a Sundance film. These films haven’t been field-tested, so you are seeing it with many of the cast and industry members. It’s a bonding experience to see a film for the first time, listen to the audience’s emotions and have the opportunity to ask questions after the film.
Here is a roundup of three great films that are prime for distribution.
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Coach Qi Moxiang trains young boxing prospects, while keeping hope for his own aspirations.
Photo by: COURTESY OF SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
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■ “China Heavyweight”
Imagine growing and harvesting tobacco on your parents’ land in rural China. Then imagine an opportunity to escape that life and train as a boxer in an effort to be an Olympic champion for your country. Coach Qi Moxiang, a fighter himself, offers that opportunity to many young men and women in central China as he travels from school to school to find the best boxing prospects. He trains them, and sometimes with them, to prepare for his own fight.
But this world documentary goes beyond the sport of boxing. It is an observational look at the central Chinese culture and its people. Athleticism is a mark of pride for the people. Coach Qi develops the skill of the sport, as well as competition, in each of his beloved subjects. His strong work ethic makes him endearing to an audience that gave him a standing ovation when he was introduced after the credits rolled. Qi traveled to Sundance to watch the movie for the first time with the entire crew.
“You use boxing as a means to leave the city of Huili to be an Olympic champ or a boxing king [like Mike Tyson or Oscar De La Hoya],” he said, through a translator, during the post-film question-and-answer session.
“China Heavyweight” is an intimate look at the power and connectivity that sport has in a culture you may or may not have a connection to, but you will after you see this film. Boxing was once banned in China. Today, this sport reflects a greater concept about the heart of the people and their everyday endurance.
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Archival footage and first-person accounts chronicle the rise of the Bones Brigade.
Photo by: COURTESY OF SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL |
■ “Bones Brigade: An Autobiography”
The Sundance experience usually includes a wait. The Bones Brigade, the skateboarding team featured in the film, was right at home. They signed movie posters for all those waiting in line for the film, like they were in a skate shop during the ’80s. The hospitality continued on the screen with old clips and pictures, some of which were submitted by the skaters and some by fans. Director Stacy Peralta, who was also the team’s scout, mentor and coach, expertly crafted a story showing the spirit of this innovative team, how they motivated each other, how they worked harder to debut new tricks, but most of all how they did something that gave them identity through sport.
“Even if you don’t skateboard, it is such an inspirational movie to see,” said Mike McGill, inventor of the epic trick called the McTwist. “And if you are someone who enjoys skateboarding, it is phenomenal. It archives all of our camaraderie and all of the trials and tribulations we went through to get to where we are today.”
Skateboarding is an individual sport, but you see in the film that the team spends a lot of time together. The primary Bones Brigade members are Steve Caballero, Tommy Guerrero, Tony Hawk, McGill, Lance Mountain and Rodney Mullen.
“I wanted to find a bunch of young kids that no one had ever seen,” Peralta said, “so I could develop them — and that was the six kids, which included Tony Hawk. And I started by sponsoring them when they were 13 years old with the idea that someday I would turn them pro, make them a [pro] model and help them with a career in skateboarding.”
Each skateboarder is highlighted and has his own backstory, and the skate community gravitated to each one for their respective personalities and maneuvers. Mountain may not have been the most talented skateboarder of the crew, but he projected a tenacious drive that pushed you to achieve your goal, too. Mullen was such a phenomenal flat-land skater that you knew you were watching greatness at every competition. And like a fictional movie, these larger-than-life characters provided the Bones Brigade journey the individuality and talent that still resonates with audience members today.
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The journey of the 1992 Lithuanian national team combined freedom with rock ‘n’ roll.
Photo by: COURTESY OF SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL |
■ “The Other Dream Team”
A sports film can bring people together by speaking a universal language that allows the viewers to feel emotion, which could be surpassed only by experiencing that moment in the actual setting. “The Other Dream Team,” directed by Lithuanian-American Marius Markevicius, is an excellent example. The film chronicles the journey of the 1992 Lithuanian national basketball team via fresh interviews and historical footage. It was a team of individuals with personal struggles, but on the hardwood, they were a team representing 3 million people as one.
“There is a new market for sports documentaries,” said Jon Weinbach, the film’s producer. “You can’t script what Sarunas [Marciulionis] and that team did and their journey. They essentially went from the faces of the Soviet sports machine to the faces of freedom.”
This brave story offers a visual understanding of these players as members of the Soviet national team, when the KGB followed them or took their passports while they were on the road. You see the turning point for these sour moments when, with the help of many, including the Grateful Dead, they raised enough money to play. These funds, coupled with independence, allowed the team to represent Lithuania at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. With all due respect to the American Dream Team that captured gold in these Games, this bronze medal win for Lithuania was greater than that gold and brought the country together through sport and tie-dye.
“These guys are your modern-day patriots that I look up, too,” said Donnie Nelson, responsible for signing Marciulionis to an NBA contract with the Golden State Warriors. “And for me to have a chance to help them from a coaching perspective and to introduce them to the Grateful Dead … this whole thing has truly taken on a life of its own and it is truly one of the great sporting rock ’n’ roll stories in modern day history.”
Molly Mazzolini (molly@infinitescale.com) has been attending Sundance Film Festivals since she moved to Salt Lake City in 1998. She is a partner at Infinite Scale, an official provider of the look of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.
