Like every decision Giannis Antetokounmpo has made concerning his career, when the Milwaukee Bucks power forward was approached about doing a documentary on his life, he first consulted his family.

“My mom, Alex and my other brothers, we talked about it. And they said, ‘This is what the real play is, this might be a good time to do it,’” he said at the premiere of his film, which was held at The Foot Locker Home Court Space in Circle Centre Mall during All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis. “And, we did it.”

“When a family has had such a challenging and then inspiring story like this, you want to make sure that you get all of it right,” says director Kristen Lappas. “It was super, super important to me to make sure that I captured the struggles of their upbringing, the complicated relationship that they have with the country of Greece, which is really nuanced and hard to just encapsulate in a sentence, and I wanted to make sure that I captured Giannis as a special spirit. He’s such a philosophical, joyful person, but he also has such wisdom for a 29-year-old guy.”

The Marvelous Journey is produced by Words + Pictures and has been in the works for two years. The documentary’s name takes from a line in the well-known Greek poem Ithaka by C. P. Cavafy, which is of particular significance to the Antetokounmpo family.

“The whole thing is about how the journey is more important than the actual destination and when you get to the destination, don’t be disappointed because the real learning experiences are because of the marvelous journey,” explains Lappas. “The poem really speaks to Giannis and his family’s experiences and they’ve kind of held it close to them.”

“I hope that people see that when you’re accepting of immigrants that are hard workers and just want to achieve in life, look at what can happen. Giannis is the face of that country. It didn’t make the film, but we interviewed a guy who said he’s the most famous Greek besides Socrates and Plato, and I loved that,” says Lappas. “The country’s folks have pride in him now, but they should think about how the Antetokounmpos were treated and the next young kid that’s a nobody right now and how they’re being treated. I hope that people come away from the film with that.”