I had the pleasure of seeing Linsanity this evening at the SXSW Film Festival. The film was extremely warmly received. After the showing, we were joined by not only the director and crew, but by the one and only Jeremy Lin himself. The director and his crew did an excellent job in presenting a very personal and moving portrait of Jeremy, his struggles to overcome stereotypes, and particularly how he drew strength from his faith and his culture. The film benefited from the fact that the crew started film Jeremy several years ago when he was a senior at Harvard and long before his rise to international stardom last year. They were thus able to show the story of his high school and college careers when he had gained some recognition, but was not a huge star. The level of racism that he encountered was quite disturbing. Jeremy's strength in the face of adversity is truly inspiring. I expect that this film will be picked up by ESPN and broadcast widely in the next few months. The film should be appealing to both sports fans and non- sports fans. While it is the journey of an athlete, it is really a story of perseverance and hard work that goes beyond just the realm of sports and should be widely relevant to people who have struggled in a wide variety of endeavors.
