Hoop Dreams goes to the mat in this intimate, coming-of-age documentary about four members of a high-school wrestling team at Huntsville s J.O. Johnson High School, a longstanding entry on Alabama s list of failing schools. Teammates Jailen, Jamario, Teague, and Jaquan each face challenges far beyond a shot at the State Championship: splintered family lives, drug use, teenage pregnancy, mental health struggles, and run-ins with the law threaten to derail their success on the mat and lock any doors that could otherwise open. Boundary-pushing coach Scribner isn t off the hook, either; he must come to terms with his own past conflicts while unwittingly wading into the complexities of race, class and privilege in the South. Director Suzannah Herbet and Co-Director Lauren Belfer capture over 650 hours of footage during the course of the team s final season to create this closely observed, deeply affecting depiction of growing up disadvantaged in America today.
