LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Lights, camera, layup.<\/p>\n
The NBA Summer League is giving athletes another shot that takes place behind the camera. With assists from Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett and Hollywood power players Mark Wahlberg<\/a> and Deon Taylor<\/a>, the Summer League Film Festival<\/a> is coming back starting July 17 in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n The three-day festival will bring big-screen storytelling through 34 selected projects, spotlighting stories produced by NBA stars past and present including Nikola Jokic<\/a>, Luguentz Dort<\/a>, Tony Allen<\/a>, Nate Robinson, Cole Anthony, Keyon Dooling and Udonis Haslem<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a ton of NBA players who own production companies,\u201d said Garnett, who won the NBA championship with the Boston Celtics. He cofounded the production company Content King Studios.<\/p>\n Garnett said he wants to highlight filmmakers who are telling authentic, real-life stories.<\/p>\n \u201cSo the SLFF is a great opportunity to get together to share our projects, give each other our flowers for doing the work, and provide an opportunity to get projects financed and even sold,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The second annual film festival will take place at the Strip View Pavilion inside the Thomas & Mack Center, the longtime home of Summer League, which was cofounded in 2004 by Warren LeGarie and Albert Hall.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always been a big hoops fan, so it\u2019s amazing to see NBA players bring these incredible stories to life,\u201d said Wahlberg, who has the production company Unrealistic Ideas.<\/p>\n Deon and Roxanne Avent Taylor of Hidden Empire Film Group were brought on to help athletes explore the art of filmmaking and sharpen their acting chops.<\/p>\n \u201cToday\u2019s athletes are more than players. They\u2019re storytellers, creators, and global influencers,\u201d said Deon Taylor, director of \u201cBlack and Blue,\u201d \u201cThe Intruder, \u201cMeet the Blacks\u201d and \u201cFatale.\u201d This marks another sports-driven venture for Hidden Empire, which teamed up with Skydance Sports<\/a> and the NFL<\/a> in March to host film training sessions<\/a> for more than 20 current and former NFL players.<\/p>\n Taylor called the collaboration with Garnett, Wahlberg, Hall and the NBA a \u201cculture shift.\u201d He said the festival would help athletes control their narrative through film, television and other media platforms.<\/p>\n \u201cTogether, we\u2019re redefining where sports, art, and culture collide,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n The festival will feature the premiere of \u201cUNLV: Kings of Vegas,\u201d showcasing the untold story of the UNLV Runnin\u2019 Rebels. The documentary will include interviews with popular figures ranging from Snoop Dogg<\/a>, Chuck D<\/a> and Jimmy Kimmel<\/a>. It\u2019s produced by former UNLV stars Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon and Greg Anthony along with Damien Big Percy Roderick and Hidden Empire Film Group.<\/p>\n Along with screenings, the festival will host various private events including a tipoff viewing of \u201cTony Allen: The Grindfather\u201d and a wrap party.<\/p>\n \u201cThe SLFF team is passionate about amplifying these amazing films and filmmakers who are producing all forms of content at NBA Summer League,\u201d Hall said. \u201cBecause of all the talented filmmakers who submitted films this year, we believe the 2025 SLFF is poised to take on a life of its own and grow the second weekend of the Summer League.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Lights, camera, layup. The NBA Summer League is giving athletes another shot that takes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147901,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[12860,7,406,28358,28359,4221,18704,3064,8380,183,28360,6490,9873,13271,6,253,28361,66,7271,4785,20714],"class_list":{"0":"post-147900","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-arts-and-entertainment","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-cole-anthony","11":"tag-deon-avent-taylor","12":"tag-fairs-and-festivals","13":"tag-greg-anthony","14":"tag-jimmy-kimmel","15":"tag-kevin-garnett","16":"tag-larry-johnson","17":"tag-luguentz-dort","18":"tag-mark-wahlberg","19":"tag-movies","20":"tag-nate-robinson","21":"tag-national-football-league","22":"tag-nba","23":"tag-nikola-jokic","24":"tag-roxanne-avent-taylor","25":"tag-sports","26":"tag-tony-allen","27":"tag-udonis-haslem","28":"tag-unlv-rebels"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114797838853251785","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}