STAND Premieres on Showtime
When we first moved to Colorado in the 1990’s, one of the early big projects I filmed was a feature story for ESPN about a Denver Nuggets NBA player named Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf (AKA Chris Jackson,) and how Tourette's Syndrome (and his related OCD) impacted his playing and his life.
I remember a shot I captured in the locker room - a closeup of his hands tying and untying his shoes until the laces laid down perfectly.
Later we captured him all alone on the court shooting dozens and dozens of free throws. It wasn’t enough to make it in, they had to sound just right.
For Mahmoud, Tourette’s was both a curse and a super power that made him great at his game.
Flash forward a couple of decades later and I get a call from a former ESPN colleague, Colleen Dominguez, checking to see if I would be interested in working with her and the team at Mandalay on a documentary about Mahmoud for Showtime.
Of course I jumped at the chance. We ended up filming several interviews and lots of beautiful footage around Colorado for the film.
Stand premiered on Showtime in February. It’s a complex look at Mahmoud’s life, his faith, and his early years as an activist standing up for what he believed... and the price he paid for doing just that.
It features interviews with Stephen Curry, Shaquille O'Neal, and Ice Cube, among many others.
Synopsis: Raw and unflinching examination of the courageous life of basketball star and social justice activist Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. Born Chris Jackson, he overcame tremendous adversity to reach the NBA and found his true calling when he converted to Islam. His decision not to stand for the national anthem, however, turned him from prodigy to pariah. Told candidly by Abdul-Rauf himself more than 20 years later, it’s the remarkable story of one man who kept the faith and paved the way for a social justice movement.
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Written by Thomas Miller, Copyright © 2023 Big Pictures Media, Inc.
It’s always a pleasure working with the production team at Idolum, the great marketing folks at Waterpik, and the ever talented dentist (and Bachelorette star) Dr. Chris Strandburg!