Kathleen Jayme was just six years old when the Vancouver Grizzlies were created, and she “absolutely fell in love with basketball because of them.”
“They taught me to dream big,” Jayme told CBC News on Saturday ahead of the screening of his award-winning feature film. The grizzly truth.
“That feeling that they inspired me stayed with me all those years. When I was in film school, you know, at UBC [University of British Columbia]more than ten years ago, it was like the film that I wanted to make in my career.
“It took a lot of hard work, such a team effort, I have so many people behind me supporting me, bringing this dream project to life,” she added.
On November 29, Photon Films announced that The grizzly truth will be presented to audiences across Canada this winter.
Saturday’s screening — supported by Telefilm Canada — took place at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, as part of a national theatrical tour.
Established in 1995, along with the Toronto Raptors, as part of the NBA’s expansion into Canada, the Vancouver Grizzlies moved to Memphis, Tennessee, after the 2000-2001 season and were renamed the Memphis Grizzlies.
For die-hard fans, the team’s abrupt move to Memphis is more than a sore point: it’s an unsolved mystery, and possibly a criminal conspiracy, according to Photon Films.
Jayme – a Filipino-Canadian director based in Vancouver – began an investigation into the disappearance of her hometown team, which later became an exploration of the fandom’s deep roots and an irreverent expose of the wild affairs of professional sports , added Photon Films.
After six miserable years of losing in Vancouver, the Grizzlies asked to move to Memphis, Tennessee. Grizzlies Pictures: NBA
Jayme says she’s spent the past decade dreaming about the movie and the past seven years making it.
“I neglected nothing to discover The grizzly truth“, Jayme said, but wouldn’t go into detail about what she found.
The film features NBA stars including Antonio Harvey, George Lynch, Tony Massenburg, Steve Francis and many more.
“I actually ambushed Steve Francis at an autograph signing. He didn’t know I was coming,” Jayme said.
But she only wanted “five seconds to run past him, throw at him, like, ‘I’m doing this movie, I want to tell your side of the story, I want you to have a voice in the movie,'” she said.
“And you know, thankfully Steve said ‘Yeah’ and he came to Vancouver, he’s now here in Toronto, so he’s helping spread the word. He’s helping spread The grizzly truthand I’m very grateful that he was such a team player.”
Francis says he was “definitely happy” that he was able to “get things across that people didn’t really know” about him.
He praised Jayme for his work and for bringing together “the right people to tell the story of The grizzly truth.
Francis hopes that the presence of American players in Canada talking about basketball will also serve as an inspiration for children who love the sport.
“A lot of times, you know, Canadian kids don’t really get to see a lot of American basketball players unless they’re going to a game,” he said.
“So coming back, hopefully that’s the start when we come back and just talk about the game of basketball, which is really taking Canada by storm.”
For the Grizzlies’ first three years, the NBA restricted the team to the first five draft picks, and its salary cap was capped for the top two.
Jayme said the inaugural team was made up entirely of expansion players — basically, players that other teams didn’t want.
This was an apparent reason for their poor record in the league. After two wins in their first two games, the Grizzlies went on a 19-game losing streak. The second half of the season was even worse, with a 23 game losing streak.
During their six years in Vancouver, the Grizzlies won 101 games and lost 359.
In the documentary, Jayme speaks with Stu Jackson, the team’s general manager during its first five seasons, who she says took a lot of heat for the team’s lack of success.
The grizzly truth had its world premiere at the sold-out Vancouver International Film Festival in October, received the VIFF Audience Award and won Best Documentary at the Reel Asian Film Festival.
The film’s national theatrical release also includes confirmed dates in Ottawa, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, Richmond and Langley.
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