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HOOP DREAMS at Stranger Than Fiction/ONLINE NOW

hoopdreamsstillWhen it arrived in 1994, Steve James’ Hoop Dreams was praised as an instant classic. Both critics and audiences alike rejoiced over this epic three-hour documentary portrait of Arthur Agee and William Gates, two African-American teenagers in inner city Chicago who, over the course of five years, struggle to achieve lifelong goals of basketball stardom. Hoop Dreams is that rare cinematic event that isn’t just passively watched by viewers. It is actively lived by them.

Fifteen years later, James’ achievement has lost none of its dramatic, sweeping impact. Hoop Dreams is, without question, one of the great American films and a truly monumental achievement. Roger Ebert wrote passionately about a recent screening in Chicago that united the film’s stars and makers, and tonight at IFC Center, Stranger Than Fiction hosts its own special screening at 7pm (featuring a Q&A with producer/cinematographer Peter Gilbert).

If you who don’t live anywhere near New York City and want to either revisit this film on the occasion of its 15th anniversary or live through it for the first time, you can do that right now over at Netflix.

— Michael Tully

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Michael Tully is an award-winning writer/director whose films have garnered widespread critical acclaim, his projects having premiered at some of the most renowned film festivals across the globe. He is also the former (and founding) editor of this site. In 2006, Michael's first feature, COCAINE ANGEL, chronicling a tragic week in the life of a young drug addict, world premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. The film immediately solidified the director as one of Filmmaker Magazine’s "25 New Faces of Independent Film,” a reputation that was reinforced a year later when his follow-up feature, SILVER JEW, a documentary capturing the late David Berman's rare musical performances in Tel Aviv, world-premiered at SXSW and landed distribution with cult indie-music label Drag City. In 2011, Michael wrote, directed, and starred in his third feature, SEPTIEN, which debuted at the 27th annual Sundance Film Festival before being acquired by IFC Films' Sundance Selects banner. A few years later, in 2014, Michael returned to Sundance with the world premiere of his fourth feature, PING PONG SUMMER, an ‘80s set coming-of-age tale that was quickly picked up for theatrical distribution by Gravitas Ventures. In 2018, Michael wrote and directed the dread-inducing genre film DON'T LEAVE HOME, which has been described as "Get Out with Catholic guilt in the Irish countryside" (IndieWire). The film premiered at SXSW and was subsequently acquired by Cranked Up Films and Shudder.

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