As usual, the True/False Film Festival drew thousands to Columbia, Missouri to view forty documentary films over the three day event. The array is always intriguing and sometimes downright baffling. But the festival has risen to the ranks of top drawer documentary film festivals in the world. One sign is the 25,000 people who attend, many of whom travel great distances to do so.
Timing may not be everything, but it is something. Just a few days before True/False, the film, Undefeated, took an Oscar. The producers brought it with them just to prove it. What really mattered, however, was the project itself, one that shined a bright light on the power of leadership and team to transcend circumstance.
Coaching, like many other endeavors, is far more than the sport at hand. It is really about building individuals and communities, releasing hidden potential waiting to let itself loose into the world. This is a film about that, real people struggling to find themselves and excavate pride from the dumpsters of backwater society. North Memphis isn’t the only place on the planet to benefit, though it has. The real story is the way hope is born on one field and then spreads to every other one where vision and love triumph. That’s what Undefeated does.