Featuring documentaries about Muhammad Ali, Felipe Lopez, and more
Among over 150 narrative features, documentaries, and shorts to be screened at the 18th iteration of the Tribeca Film Festival will be a range of sports-centered films. On April 24, an opening gala event will take place at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. Running through May 5, the the overarching theme of this year’s festival is a celebration of African-American heritage, with much-anticipated screenings on legendary athletes-turned-social-activists Muhammad Ali and Arthur Ashe.
Here, Furthermore’s annual roundup:
What's My Name | Muhammad Ali
Get an intimate look at the sports legend’s transformation from boxing heavyweight world champion to social activist, told through his own voice and never-before-seen archival material. This 165-minute feature documentary by director Antoine Fuqua boasts LeBron James as an executive producer.
The Dominican Dream
The summer before his eighth-grade year, Felipe Lopez emigrated from the Dominican Republic to the South Bronx without knowing a word of English. Four years later, the basketball phenom landed a Sports Illustrated cover—and comparisons to Michael Jordan—at the age of 17. Lopez failed to live up to the extraordinary hype, but in this 77-minute feature documentary, 11-time Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Jonathan Hock makes the case that he more than embodied the American dream.
At the Heart of Gold
In this 88-minute feature documentary, Tribeca Film Festival alum Erin Lee Carr explores the corrupt culture behind USA Gymnastics. Carr sheds light on how decades of sexual abuse against hundreds of young women and girls by national team doctor Larry Nassar could go unchecked for so long.
Ashe ‘68
Presented as an immersive virtual reality experience, this unique eight-minute documentary tells the behind-the-scenes story of Arthur Ashe’s historic 1968 US Open win amidst a tumultuous and defining year for the civil rights movement. Directed by Emmy nominee Rex Miller, the film weaves together 360-degree video re-creations, stop-motion animation created with sand, and archival footage. Singer-songwriter John Legend is an executive producer.
Who Says I Can't
Director Kristen Lappas’s previous documentary short, the Emmy–winning A Mountain to Climb, chronicled the unusual story of Nepal’s first golf star. Her latest, which runs 25 minutes, turns the camera lens on another underdog character: high school football coach Rob Mendez, who was born without arms or legs.