Steve James emerged as a legend in the world of documentary film-making with Hoop Dreams and No Crossover picks up with some of the same themes. No Crossover received its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, TX ahead of its scheduled airing on ESPN's 30 for 30 series on April 13. No Crossover uses the events of the 1993 Trial of emerging basketball star Allen Iverson in James' hometown of Hampton, VA, as a microcosm for examining issues of race in American society. The documentary is unflinchingly honest and the film captures the double-standards around race that are rarely brought to the surface. A fight in a bowling alley becomes a means for telling a powerful and compelling story about racial injustice. The complex social picture and the still-present tensions more than a decade-and-a-half later are fascinating and edifying.
James raises fascinating questions about racial double-standards in the judicial system that are often difficult to document. In that sense, this film is also picking up on the themes that he has raised in films like Stevie (about a young juvenile) and At the Death House Door (about the death penalty in Texas). This documentary is one that should lead many Americans to reconsider the events of the Iverson trial, but more importantly to reconsider their ideas about race and justice in America. James has given us an opportunity to look at ourselves in the mirror and for that we owe him a debt of gratitude – again!
James raises fascinating questions about racial double-standards in the judicial system that are often difficult to document. In that sense, this film is also picking up on the themes that he has raised in films like Stevie (about a young juvenile) and At the Death House Door (about the death penalty in Texas). This documentary is one that should lead many Americans to reconsider the events of the Iverson trial, but more importantly to reconsider their ideas about race and justice in America. James has given us an opportunity to look at ourselves in the mirror and for that we owe him a debt of gratitude – again!