The Uninterrupted Film Festival Powered by Tribeca Festival is coming back to Hollywood this week, bringing some of the biggest names in sports and filmmaking together to demonstrate what is possible when athletes are able to tell their own story.
This year’s edition, set to take place Tuesday and Wednesday, July 9 and 10, at NeueHouse Hollywood, is the second festival after last year’s inaugural event and marks an expansion from one day to two.
Highlights include a selection of short films chosen by LeBron James, Naomi Osaka and Joel Embiid and the premieres of documentaries “A Radical Act: Renee Montgomery” and “Charlie Hustle & the Matter of Pete Rose,” as well as panels with star athletes and media figures like Paul George and Matt Barnes.
For “Radical Act” director Sandrine Orabona, the story of Montgomery, a former WNBA player who has since worked as a WNBA executive and co-owner of the Atlanta Dream, is one that is a perfect fit with Uninterrupted’s message of athlete empowerment.
“Ultimately, we talk a lot about people taking their own power,” Orabona said. “Renee especially becoming an owner is a lot about having a different voice in the room of ownership and ownership circles, and taking your own power as a woman of color and someone in the WNBA in general who has the opportunity to take her own power and empower other athletes.”
Similarly, “Charlie Hustle” lets the controversial Rose, who is baseball’s all-time hits leader but is not in the Hall of Fame because he bet on baseball, tell his side of the story, though director Mark Monroe noted that Rose answered every question he asked, allowing Monroe to delve into what he called “my big question”: “What do we do with these guys who we love so much between the lines when they were playing but whose actions were, at best, questionable off the field? Do we wipe them from the record books?”
“It’s important that he be remembered and that he’s given a chance to tell his story and be seen as a human being, and not just as a sports hero,” Monroe said.
In addition to the screenings, the documentaries will offer a rare treat for sports fans in attendance: The films’ directors, the athletes themselves and special guests participate in a question-and-answer period.
For “Radical Act,” Orabona and Montgomery will be joined by sports journalists Malika Andrews and MJ Acosta-Ruiz.
For “Charlie Hustle,” Monroe and Rose will be joined by broadcaster Al Michaels.
Ricardo Viramontes, general manager of Uninterrupted, pointed out that these prestigious guests create an opportunity hard to find anywhere else.
“You don’t get many chances to be in front of your famous athletes so intimately, and sports fans, we’re all really hungry for sports content, so the idea that we get to debut two films is super exciting,” he said.
And while the focus is currently all on Tuesday and Wednesday, Miramontes said he expects the festival to continue to grow in the future, in no small part because of Los Angeles’ role as the “epicenter of film” and a town with a “rabid sports fanbase.”
That confluence creates a unique opportunity to highlight and promote the narrative aspect of sports in a way that may have been overlooked in years past.
“There are great lessons in humanity in all of these sports stories, and that’s what we aim to do, give as many stories light as possible,” Miramontes said.