Hoop Dreams
A long-form documentary following two Chicago teenagers as basketball, school, family and institutional expectations reshape one another over several years.
- YEAR
- 1994
- DIRECTOR
- Steve James
- COUNTRY
- United States
- LENGTH
- 171 min
- SPORT / THEME
- Basketball · Documentary
- CAST / FEATURED PEOPLE
- William Gates · Arthur Agee
Hoop Dreams in the wider sports-film conversation
Hoop Dreams is worth viewing not only as a self-contained story but as part of a wider conversation about how sport is represented on screen. Its duration makes time part of the evidence. The film is central to documentary conversations about access, longitudinal observation and the systems surrounding athletic promise.
Continue through Basketball, Steve James, 1994 and United States. For a closer reading, see Hoop Dreams Time And System.
Synopsis
A long-form documentary following two Chicago teenagers as basketball, school, family and institutional expectations reshape one another over several years.
Place in film history
Its duration makes time part of the evidence. The film is central to documentary conversations about access, longitudinal observation and the systems surrounding athletic promise.