Dynasty Sports Film Festival Launches in South Bend — SkimNews
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Dynasty Sports Film Festival will run October 22-25 in South Bend, Indiana, presented by Shade Studios and founded by Marissa Hill and Alfred Castaneda, who called the city "the heart of America's most passionate sports region."
- The festival opens October 22 with the world premiere of "Lou Holtz: 60 Minutes to Play and a Lifetime to Remember," a documentary about the iconic Notre Dame coach, followed by a Q&A moderated by ESPN's Hannah Storm with director Ted Mandell, with an opening party at the Studebaker Museum.
- On October 23, the festival will debut Prime Video's upcoming "The Greatest" — a Muhammad Ali drama executive produced by Michael B. Jordan's Outlier Society and Ben Watkins' Blue Monday Productions — and screen ESPN's "The Brittney Griner Story" about the WNBA star.
- A 40th anniversary director's-cut screening of "Hoosiers" with director David Anspaugh and screenwriter Angelo Pizzo anchors October 24, alongside "First Five" about Bob Knight's first Indiana recruiting class and ESPN's "Give Me the Ball!" featuring Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, and Serena Williams.
- Programming spans six competition categories — narrative features, documentaries, shorts, brand films, student films, and social/digital creator content — plus out-of-competition series, with jurors including Pizzo, NFL agent Eugene Lee, and Indiana University's Dr. Galen Clavio.
- The festival closes October 25 with family-friendly programming built around a 20th anniversary screening of Pixar's "Cars."
Why it matters: By anchoring itself in South Bend — Notre Dame's home and a region steeped in sports-movie mythology — the festival stakes a claim as a Midwest alternative to established sports-film showcases, and its debut lineup leans on prestige ESPN docs and a high-profile Ali series to recruit filmmakers, athletes, and audiences in year one.
Ask SkimNews
