Hoop Dreams

Hoop Dreams is a 1994 American documentary directed by Steve James, following two Chicago teenagers, William Gates and Arthur Agee, over roughly five years as they pursue basketball scholarships and the hope of reaching the NBA. Shot originally as a short project that expanded into a three-hour feature after years of continued filming, the documentary follows its subjects through the pressures of recruitment, family hardship, and shifting fortunes on and off the court. Hoop Dreams received widespread critical acclaim, and its exclusion from the Academy Award nominations for Best Documentary Feature that year prompted a public controversy that contributed to later changes in the Academy's documentary nomination process.