Yahoo Lifestyle ‘Hoops, Hopes & Dreams’ Producer Jesse Williams on Dr. Martin Luther King’s Love of Basketball and How Modern Leaders Could Learn From Him — Sundance
“Hoops, Hopes & Dreams” may be a short film, but it has a lot of big ideas.
At its core, it’s about how two leaders — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and President Obama — both made inroads in communities thanks to their love of playing basketball. Because of that, they were apt to meet those interested in the civil rights movement and potential voters where they were and make impacts community by community.
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The filmmakers behind “Dreams” — director and producer Glenn Kaino, as well as producers Alexys Feaster, Afshin Shahidi and Jesse Williams — stopped by the Variety Studio presented by Audible at Sundance to talk about how the themes of their film are resonating with modern audiences, and why people should know about Dr. King’s history as a basketball player.
“I think it’s easy and natural for us to deify figures and put them on a black and white poster on the wall,” Williams says. “We admire them and remove them from time and history, as opposed to having us realize how interconnected it is. To bring this lofty figure back on earth and understand how that movement was developed. This is pre-internet, this is pre-technology. This is a human series of connections and time spent and travel connecting with human beings for him to understand the needs of his people and not force them onto others. It was a movement of listening and love, and I think it’s easy to accessorize sports as a thing on the fringes of society. This is a great way to examine something we all love, maybe for different reasons or at different levels, but to understand how it can be central to human connection, self-reliance, independence and self-esteem.”
Williams continued, revealing how King made such a profound impact, and illustrating the traits that other people wanting to impact their community could take on while discussing politics and culture.
“Dr. King tapped into so much of that ground game,” Williams says. “The value of looking and making eye contact and being present with people and meeting them in the language, and the lifestyle they’re already living. To be receptive to their needs and wants. And then we bring it to the now and continue to see how the sport makes a world of difference to folks who are looking to be considered and seen. It’s a fun way to come around the side of the house to look at another part, another aspect of how both of these figures’ legacies were developed.”
Watch the “Hoops, Hopes & Dreams” team talk at length about their film below.
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