Salaam Dunk
| Salaam Dunk | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | David Fine |
| Produced by | Beau Lewis (producer)Peter Furia, San Saravan, Peter Friedrich (co-producers) Kimi Milo, Abigail Weintraub (associate producers) |
| Starring | The American University of Iraq – Sulaimani women basketball players and their team coach Ryan Bubalo |
| Cinematography | San Saravan, David Fine |
| Edited by | David Fine, Bill Weber |
| Distributed by | Seedwell Films (also executive producer) |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 78 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English, Arabic, Kurdish |
Salaam Dunk is a 2011 American documentary film directed by David Fine about an Iraqi university's women basketball program, spearheaded by a US-born instructor as coach.[1][2]
Synopsis
The film follows the women's basketball team of the The American University of Iraq – Sulaimani (AUIS) for a full academic year. The players discover what it means to be students, athletes and friends in the difficult political, economic, cultural and ethnic/sectarian divide and how basketball unites them around a game. The film follows the lives of some of the AUIS' woman basketball players, notably those of Laylan (team captain), Enji, Ola and Safa and their basketball coach Ryan Bubalo, who is the university's contractual English language teacher.[3] The film is a testament to the perseverance of a handful of young Iraqi women, it is a story of triumph in the face of chaos and adversity.
Reception and awards
The film gained mostly positive reviews.[4][5] It also became part of the Nike Jordan's Rise Above campaign where they featured basketball team captain Laylan in a 5-minute presentation.
- Special selection
The film was an official selection at various festivals including:
- International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IFDA)
- Both New York and London Human Rights Watch Film festivals
- Toronto International Film Festival's TIFF Kids section
- DOXA Documentary Film Festival in Vancouver
- Doha Tribeca Film Festival
Doha Tribeca flew the entire basketball team (17 young women) from Iraq to Doha for the screening of the film and where they met their previous coach Ryan Bubalo who had flied in from the States to attend the screening.[3]
- Awards
Salaam Dunk won several awards at film festivals:
- It won the Gold Plaque for "Best Documentary" award during the 2011 Chicago International Film Festival. It was also nominated to Gold Hugo "Best Documentary" award during the same festival.
- It won the Grand Jury Award for "Best Documentary feature" during the Florida Film Festival in 2012[6]
- It also won the Grand Jury Award during the Nashville Film Festival.
References
- ↑ "Iraqi women find refuge in basketball". EspnW. Retrieved 2012-09-17.
- ↑ "Women's basketball tries to rebound". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-09-17.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 StudySync: Introducing Ryan Bubalo, Education Accounts Manager
- ↑ "Salaam Dunk". Variety. Retrieved 2012-09-17.
- ↑ "Salaam Dunk: Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2012-09-17.
- ↑ IMDb.com Salaam Dunk (2011) Awards page