*As Martin Luther King Jr. Day (01-19-26) approaches, students in Inglewood, CA, are learning a side of King that many don’t know: his love for basketball. They also get to know how former President Barack Obama shared the same passion.
Hundreds of students from “City Honors Preparatory Academy” and “Inglewood High School” attended an early screening of the short film “Hoops, Hopes & Dreams” at the “Los Angeles Clippers” home, the Intuit Dome. The film explores how King and Obama used basketball to connect with young people and promote unity.
“Yeah, I was surprised. I did not know that. I heard about Obama, but I just didn’t know about Obama [either], but it showed me,” said Cleavon Mouton, a senior at City Honors.
“To learn about King also being a hooper, it just shows how much a lot of people don’t know about him, and there’s a lot of things that we could still learn to this day,” added Dulce Garcia, also a senior at City Honors.
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The film was directed and produced by Glenn Kaino, who explained that its central message is “we’re all on the same team.”
He added, “We also like to say that we hope the film shows a picture of our heroes at our level, but also paints a pathway for us to aspire to be at their level.”
Following the screening, Kaino held a Q&A with students.
“We really made this film to be a bridge, a generational bridge, to be able to have dialogue about the moment, Dr. King’s era, Obama era, and now, altogether in a way that, again, helps reveal opportunities for us to build community together today,” he stated.
The production team includes Alexys Feaster, actor Jesse Williams, and King’s daughter, Dr. Bernice A. King.
Kaino also paid tribute to producer Michael Latt, who played a pivotal role in creating the film but was killed during production in 2023.
“Our producer, Michael Latt, was unfortunately killed in the process of making this, so we always honor him and his legacy. You know, he has a legacy fund, and we called him the point guard of our team, and he was great. There’s a little clip of him at the end. It just goes to show that without a team, it’s hard to get anything done,” Kaino said.
“Hoops, Hopes & Dreams” premieres on January 19 on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.
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