The new Game Change Game documentary will take viewers inside the 2020 NBA season which took place during the COVID-19 pandemic. The film will make its festival debut at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 14.
Game Change Game chronicles the professional basketball players’ experiences inside the “NBA Bubble” established at Florida’s Walt Disney World. In addition, the doc covers those athletes addressing the social justice movement sparked by the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis Police officer.
NBA players CJ McCollum, Jaylen Brown, Andre Iguodala, Malcolm Brogdon, Garrett Temple, Donovan Mitchell, JaVale McGee, Danny Green, Rudy Gobert, Matisse Thybulle, and Tobias Harris appear in Game Change Game. NBA legends Julius Erving, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, and Doc Rivers also provide commentary.
“It is very humbling for me to watch this now and look back at everything we went through as players during that time,” says CJ McCollum, President of the NBPA.
The New Orleans Pelicans guard also states, “With the coronavirus pandemic, social unrest, and pivotal elections across the country, this film captures such a unique moment in our history and it’s amazing to relive these moments of togetherness and activism that transcend the game of basketball.”
Game Change Game presents personal footage shot by players as well as interviews with activists, artists, and media figures. The film features Hip Hop star Michael “Killer Mike” Render too.
Spike Jordan and Maxime Quoilin directed Game Change Game. THINK450, the Innovation Engine of the National Basketball Players Association, produced the documentary in partnership with Good Company. Christina Norman, Jonathan Lia, and Whitney Jackson serve as producers.
Jordan calls the documentary “timeless and timely.” The filmmaker wants it to be a “wake-up call” that will hopefully incite social change. Quoilin expresses it is their “duty to shed light on” what was on the minds of the NBA players during the 2020-2021 season.
“This film came to life in the wake of the social justice reckoning triggered by the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others,” said Christina Norman, THINK450’s head of content.
Norman continues, “As the players were inspired to use their voices to call for justice, we were inspired to create this film to amplify the united response of the 450 basketball players of the NBA and keep the calls for justice ever present.”
