Blast from the Past: 30 Years Ago
Hoop Dreams is available to stream on Peacock.
Hoop Dreams, a landmark sports documentary by director Steve James, premiered to great acclaim at the Sundance Film Fest, where it won the Audience Award.
The epic film follows the high school years of two young African-American men from Chicago pursuing their dream of being in the NBA despite the physical and social challenges they had to overcome during their era.
Release Date: 1994-10-14
Director Steve James
Cast Arthur Agee, William Gates
Runtime 171 Minutes
This pioneering sports documentary depicts the stories of two aspiring inner-city Chicago basketball players, following them through high school as they work toward college scholarships and their dreams of playing professionally in the NBA.
Proving the emotional power of documentary, Hoop Dreams is one of the most inspiring films of all time as a sobering portrait of social inequality with high school basketball as the backdrop.
Hoop Dreams looks at the impact that race, social class, and education inequality have on the players’ goals, desires, and experiences, while not neglecting the family backgrounds and broader socio-economic-cultural contexts.
The teens’ heartbreaking adversity and well-earned victories yield rewarding results should appeal to viewers of all wlaks of life.
One of the most commercially successful docus, Hoop Dreams grossed $7.8 million domestically and $4 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $11.8 million.
Hoop Dreams Score Breakdown
IMDB Score: 8.3/10
RT: 98
Metacritic Score: 98/100
Our Grade: A (***** out of *****)
Critical Status:
It was the closing night of the 1994 New York Film Festival, the first time a documentary film had ever closed the festival. Its appearance at Sundance helped it secure a distribution deal with Fine Line Features, and the film opened nationwide on October 21, 1994.
The film was ranked #1 on the International Documentary Association’s Top 25 Documentaries list, based on polling of members in 2007.
It was also ranked #1 on the Current Special 50 Documentaries to See Before You Die.
In 2005, Hoop Dreams was included in the annual selection of 25 motion pictures added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, being deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and recommended for preservation.
Awards:
1994 National Society of Film Critics: Best Nonfiction Film
1994 Los Angeles Film Critics: Best Non-fiction Film
1994 New York Film Critics Circle: Best Documentary
1994 Chicago Film Critics Award: Best Picture
1994 Directors Guild of America Awards: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary
1994 Academy Award nomination: Best Editing
1995 Peabody Award
