Coming to Logo tomorrow, Tuesday, May 3: MIND/GAME: THE UNQUIET JOURNEY OF CHAMIQUE HOLDSCLAW
Rick Goldsmith’s portrait of a basketball star’s struggle with mental illness made its debut at Nashville last year, where it won an audience award. The film went on to screen at Frameline, Atlanta’s Out on Film, San Francisco Jewish, and Queens World, among other events.
Chamique Holdsclaw emerged from a championship career in college basketball to be a number one draft pick in the WNBA, nicknamed the “female Michael Jordan” and deemed by some sports writers as good enough to compete against any pro, female or male. Despite her potential, her professional career didn’t go as planned, as chronicled in Goldsmith’s featurette. Instead, the athlete found herself struggling with clinical depression, unsure how to even seek out help. Over time, she thankfully got the help she needed, and became an advocate for mental health awareness. While the film has some serious issues – chiefly very awkward narration, and, to a more limited extent, a strange semi-avoidance of Holdsclaw’s sexuality – it does offer some interesting insight into the challenges of addressing mental health within African American communities and among athletes.
what (not) to doc 