It’s laborious to know whether or not Steph Curry’s eleventh hour assist for the documentary brief movie, “The Queen of Basketball,” helped it win an Oscar Sunday night time.
However in accepting the Academy Award, the movie’s director Ben Proudfoot was keen to focus on its celebration of feminine athletes and to name consideration to the plight of WNBA participant Brittney Griner, who was detained in Moscow shortly earlier than Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Actually, Proudfoot directed his name to motion all the best way to the White Home, imploring President Joe Biden to “deliver Brittney Griner residence.”
"If there's anybody on the market that also doubts whether or not there's an viewers for feminine athletes, let this Academy Award be the reply."
Ben Proudfoot accepts Academy Award Finest Documentary Quick for "The Queen of Basketball."https://t.co/1H1Y9jC9bl#oscarspic.twitter.com/y7CjC7UINz
— ABC Information (@ABC) March 28, 2022
Griner, 31, was detained in mid-February after Russian authorities claimed they found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her baggage at Sheremetyevo Worldwide Airport exterior Moscow, Sports activities Illustrated reported. The 2-time Olympic gold medalist and Phoenix Mercury heart faces a most penalty of 10 years in jail if discovered responsible of transporting medication.
Her detention has come throughout harrowing instances in Russia’s relations with Europe and the US. On Feb. 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, scary the most important conflict and humanitarian disaster in Europe since World Struggle II. Final week, the U.S. State Division insisted that the Russian authorities present consular entry to detained U.S. residents, together with Griner, Sports activities Illustrated stated. A State Division spokesperson confirmed that officers met with the WNBA participant and stated she was in “good situation.”
In the meantime, Proudfoot Sunday night time expressed satisfaction in “The Queen of Basketball,” which tells the story of Lusia ‘Lucy’ Harris, a pioneering participant in girls’s basketball within the Seventies who was the primary and solely girl to ever be drafted by the NBA. Holding up his gold Oscars statue, Proudfood stated: “If there was ever any doubt about whether or not there’s an viewers for feminine athletes, let this be a solution.”
Earlier this month, Curry signed on to be government producer of “The Queen of Basketball, which Proudfoot made for the New York Occasions Ops-Doc collection of brief documentaries.
Curry joined one other NBA legend, Shaquille O’Neal, in lending his title to the venture. Curry and O’Neal are amongst greater than a dozen listed producers and government producers on the movie, and he joined late within the recreation — after it premiered on the 2021 Tribeca Movie Competition and started streaming on the New York Occasions’ web site and YouTube.
However Curry’s participation within the venture made headlines within the Hollywood Reporter, with O’Neal releasing a press release, saying: “Stephen Curry is without doubt one of the NBA’s most iconic gamers whose voice speaks volumes on and off the court docket. I’m thrilled to have him be a part of the group to assist immortalize Lusia Harris, aka ‘The Queen of Basketball.’”
Curry’s position as government producer apparently is to assist publicize the movie together with his Unanimous Media manufacturing firm.
“We’re honored to hitch the proficient group behind ‘The Queen of Basketball’ and play a job in uplifting the story of the trailblazing Lucy Harris,” Curry and Unanimous Media co-founder Erick Peyton stated in a press release. “Lucy, a real pioneer within the recreation of basketball and an inspiration for a lot of, deserves to be acknowledged for her achievements. By means of this compelling brief topic documentary, her legacy will proceed to reside on and influence audiences all around the world.”