‘Hoops, Hopes & Dreams’ Producer Jesse Williams on Dr. Martin Luther King’s Love of Basketball and How Modern Leaders Could Learn From Him — Sundance

variety.com:

William Earl “Hoops, Hopes & Dreams” may be a short film, but it has a lot of big ideas. At its core, it’s about how two leaders — Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr. and President Obama — both made inroads in communities thanks to their love of playing basketball. Because of that, they were apt to meet those interested in the civil rights movement and potential voters where they were and make impacts community by community.

The filmmakers behind “Dreams” — director and producer Glenn Kaino, as well as producers Alexys Feaster, Afshin Shahidi and Jesse Williams — stopped by the Variety Studio presented by Audible at Sundance to talk about how the themes of their film are resonating with modern audiences, and why people should know about Dr.

King’s history as a basketball player. “I think it’s easy and natural for us to deify figures and put them on a black and white poster on the wall,” Williams says. “We admire them and remove them from time and history, as opposed to having us realize how interconnected it is.