Life Without Basketball

Ideal for families 

After the International Basketball Federation forbids head coverings, making it impossible for Muslim women to maintain their religious convictions while on the court, Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir fights to change the rules. With her victory, she becomes the first Division I basketball player to play wearing the hijab and inspires the young Muslim women she coaches.

Q&A session to follow with co-directors Tim O’Donnell and Jon Mercer, as well as special guest Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir

Filmmaker Bios: Tim O’Donnell is an Emmy-nominated and award-winning documentary filmmaker. His work has appeared on ESPN, NBC, PBS, OutsideTV, the Sundance Film Festival and events around the world. His films have garnered the Audience Award at the Independent Film Festival of Boston, Jury Prizes at the Phoenix Film Festival and Woods Hole Film festival, and IndieWire’s Project of the Month. His most recent film, Not a War Story, opened at #1 for all iTunes Documentaries and premiered at the Academy of Motion Pictures. The feature length version of Life Without Basketball won best pitch at the 2015 DOC NYC. Tim founded Pixela Pictura, a production company based in Boston, MA.

Jon Mercer is known for his ability to deconstruct a frame or narrative, finding its essential elements and drawing out the underlying emotion. As a director and editor his work has been broadcast nationally and helped expand viewership for a number of online platforms. His films have screened internationally at festivals and can also be seen on PBS. Most notably, his editing for the documentary Calling My Children helped guide it to twelve festival wins and a Cine Golden Eagle Award. His passion for travel and active adventure have led to a career pursuit of stories that are hard to reach, often at the margins of culture and nature. Life Without Basketball is his feature length directorial debut.