After growing up with a brother who mainly speaks the language of basketball, Anne Buford, sister to San Antonio Spurs’ General Manager R.C. Buford has created an inspirational film that highlights the journey of four players from Senegal, West Africa to life in the United States.
Buford spoke with Dan Devine of Ball Don’t Lie about the process and reasons for creating the film.
“Anna was big on saying, ‘People don’t know that there are things that they should care about until you make it interesting for them to care about it,'” she said. “That was what I was looking for — to turn people on to something that they might not necessarily get to, and to have a hook that made it interesting for them to get to it.”
“I’m an optimistic person,” Buford said. “I’m never going to be the person who looks at the downside.”
Buford even commented on the basketball history that lives within her family because of her brother R.C.
“When we were kids, R.C. always played sports, and so much of our lives revolved around him playing sports,” said Anne Buford, who is eight years R.C.’s junior. “You know, when he was an assistant at Kansas, I was a student, and Alvin Gentry, who came from North Carolina, and coach [Larry] Brown, who came from Long Island, and R.C., and this menagerie of other guys, they just spoke this language, and it was so … they were all so different. The ability of sports to really bring people together and connect them, I thought, was fascinating.”
Though the film only had its debut in Los Angeles and New York, I can’t wait to see it as soon as it comes near my town.
This is the trailer for the film titled, Elevate.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNoaZuB6C60&w=475&h=333]
