USA,
2005, 102 min
Shown in 2006
CREDITS
- dir
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Ward Serrill
- prod
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Ward Serrill, Liz Manne
- cam
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Ward Serrill
- editor
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Eric Frith
- mus
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The Angel, Sue Jacobs
- source
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Miramax Films, 99 Hudson St. 5th Floor, New York, NY 10013. FAX: 212-941-3932. EMAIL: nicolette.aizenberg@miramax.com.
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COMMENTS
Ward Serrill and subject Devon Crosby-Helms in attendance.
OTHER
The politics of race, class and gender land center court in Ward Serrill’s entertaining documentary about the Birkenstock-shod coach of a high school girls basketball team in Seattle and the headstrong star player who represents his greatest challenge—and inspiration. With a slight resemblance to Santa Claus and a background in tax law, extroverted college professor Bill Resler seems an unlikely choice to lead the struggling Roosevelt Roughriders girls basketball team, but when he becomes coach, the group noticeably improves. Belying the notion that all coaches must be controlling and hands-on, Resler instead allows each team member a high degree of independence and a role in the collaborative decision-making process; smashing gender stereotypes of teenage femininity, Resler also coaxes the group to act like a “bloodthirsty wolf pack” and to “draw some blood!” However, when Darnellia Russell walks onto the court, a new dynamic quickly develops. Agile, strong and gifted, with a strong-willed personality that far outshadows the other girls, she’s also one of the few African American students in the predominantly white school. Her struggles both on and off the court, and her relationship with Coach Resler, are the focus of The Heart of the Game and elevate this hoops documentary into a treatise on the racial bias of the American educational system and the sexual stereotypes implicit in American culture. Filmed over six years, The Heart of the Game has drawn comparisons to Hoop Dreams and other classic films that reveal the social implications, cultural failings and personal tragedies hidden in one seemingly simple game.
FACTOID #347
The world premiere of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert took place at the 1994 San Francisco International Film Festival at the Castro Theatre.
