Blu-ray, DVD Release: Hoop Dreams

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: March 31, 2015
Price: Blu-ray $39.95, DVD $29.95
Studio: Criterion


Two ordinary inner-city Chicago kids dare to reach for the impossible—professional basketball glory—in 1994’s Hoop Dreams, an epic chronicle of hope and faith.

Arthur Agee in Hoop Dreams

Arthur Agee in Hoop Dreams

Filmed over a five-year period, Hoop Dreams, by filmmakers Steve James (Life Itself), Frederick Marx and Peter Gilbert, follows young Arthur Agee and William Gates as they navigate the complex, competitive world of scholastic athletics while dealing with the intense pressures of their home lives and neighborhoods.

This landmark documentary, which follows the journeys of two remarkable families, continues to educate and inspire viewers, and it is widely considered one of the finer works of American nonfiction cinema to emerge over the past quarter-century.

Criterion’s DVD and Blu-ray editions of the film contain the following:

  • New digital restoration, with 4.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
    • Two audio commentaries: one by filmmakers Peter Gilbert, Steve James, and Frederick Marx, and one by the film’s subjects, Arthur Agee and William Gates
    Life After “Hoop Dreams,” a new documentary catching up with Agee, Gates, and their families
    • Additional scenes
    • Collection of excerpts from Siskel & Eberttracking the acclaim for Hoop Dreams
    • Original music video for the film’s theme song from 1994
    • Trailers
    • Essays by author John Edgar Wideman and filmmaker and critic Robert Greene

 

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About Laurence

Founder and editor Laurence Lerman saw Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest when he was 13 years old and that’s all it took. He has been writing about film and video for more than a quarter of a century for magazines, anthologies, websites and most recently, Video Business magazine, where he served as the Reviews Editor for 15 years.