Honeydews Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 Quote Watch 'Finding Big Country' award-winning documentary (VIDEO) Rob WilliamsOct 21, 2018 3:08 pm1,204 Finding Big Country Nobody epitomized the Vancouver Grizzlies more than Bryant “Big Country” Reeves. The team’s first-ever draft pick in 1995, Reeves’ NBA career started out with promise, but was short-lived. The 7-foot centre was the only player to play in all six seasons of the Grizzlies’ existence in Vancouver. But when the franchise moved to Memphis in 2001, Reeves never played another professional game. Instead, he was forced to retire at age 28 due to chronic back pain. See also Local filmmaker reveals new Vancouver Grizzlies movie in the works Vancouver greets 'Finding Big Country' movie with sold out shows and standing ovations Raptors' Powell says NBA should bring a team back to Vancouver With his career over, Reeves moved back to his hometown of Gans, Oklahoma (population 312). Many members of the local media had tried, but nobody was able to successfully get Big Country to speak about his time in Vancouver – until now. Local filmmaker and lifelong fan of Reeves and the Vancouver Grizzlies, Kat Jayme not only found him, she made a documentary about him. Produced with the help of Telus Storyhive, the film titled Finding Big Country was greeted with enthusiastic fans and sold out shows at the Vancouver International Film Festival last month. Moviegoers liked what they saw, as Finding Big Country won VIFF’s People’s Choice Award. Watch the full-length documentary here: Finding Big Country team: Kat Jayme, Director, Writer & Executive Producer Michael Grand, Producer Greg Ng, Editor Michael Dinsmore, Cinematographer James Brown, Executive Producer Lisa Pham, Assembly Editor What an amazing documentary, great to see him doing so well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linden17 Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 What a great post. Thank you so much, honeydews. It would of been nice if there was some more in depth questions about the actual grizzlies and the locker room but beggars cant be choosers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twilight Sparkle Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 to be honest i was never a grizzlies fan growing up but this guy was the talk everywhere i went, and i do remember going to a grizzlies game at one point with my mom, because my sister, who was 7 years old at the time (i think in 1997), loved the guy, and seeing this white dude tower over everyone i was like, wow this is kind of cool. i think it was against the pistons in november or something, early in the season. rahim and reeves both lit it up and the good guys won in OT. i remember it because it was the first sporting event i went to as a kid and the place going absolutely nuts. i can't remember what the attendance was but it was a pretty respectable house. there's an interview SN supposedly did with the lady who did the thing, and i have no idea what the production people were thinking: "There’s one of the interviews that unfortunately got cut from the film and is one of my favorite lines. One of his friends said, “you know, walking down the street you would never know which one of us is a millionaire.” He would never tell you that he was an NBA player. Being Bryant “Big Country” Reeves is not something that he brings up. I can’t speak highly enough of Bryant. I don’t think any other NBA player would have given me the time of day, but Bryant opened up his home to me and my crew and helped me achieve one of my childhood dreams." https://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/nba/qa-director-finding-big-country-grizzlies-documentary/ she raises a pretty point that this whole thing was to raise awareness to get a team back in vancouver. i was never a fan of the grizzlies as a kid-- i don't even like basketball, but its hard to deny the buzz that team still has today. you go to a canucks game, any game, at least a few people are wearing grizzlies jerseys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.A. Nux Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 What an awesome doc, she's got a real talent for it, thanks for posting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrJockitch Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 Amazing how hard the Vancouver fans got screwed by the NBA. They were behind the eight ball from day one. Compare this to the Golden Knights expansion experience. I used to go to the games occasionally and they were just awful. I loved Shareef though, class act. I remember going to see a high school basketball tournament at UBC and getting free Grizz tickets for going. $3 admission gets you free Grizz tickets. Let me tell you, the high school basketball game was MUCH more fun to watch. Look forward to watching the Doc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HI5 Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 Yesssss...I been waiting a long time to watch this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diesel_3 Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 Awesome! Great post! I was only ever able to attend 1 Grizzlies game and it was against the Sacramento Kings in 1999 and Big Country knocked down a shot from the paint to win 99-98 in the dying seconds, it was a lot of fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down by the River Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 Really cool to see someone who is clearly a fan make something so professional... Anyone else to do this documentary might come across as having a fake interest in the person and how they are doing. You can tell from her history that she wasn't just trying to make a buck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VanGnome Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 This is such a fantastically done documentary. It's also great that she was able to preserve some of the Grizzly legacy in the BC Sports Hall of Fame, and consequently the legacy of Reeves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darius Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 Awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostsof1915 Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 Nice to see a US college athlete actually be articulate, and very down to Earth. A lot of wisdom. Great job Kat. I'd feel better about it if Memphis changed the team name. Years later it still hurts. If you compare LA Clippers of similar time with Vancouver, despite being in a far smaller city, attendance was very respectable. Vancouver and Seattle got really screwed by the NBA. To the point I don't watch the NBA anymore. Sometimes College Basketball, but that's it. Great Documentary. Hope she goes on to bigger and better things as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckNORRIS4Cup Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 Wow what a great documentary, I'm not a basketball fan, watched a bit of basketball back in the 90's, so I remember the Grizzlies and Big Country, and like most fans felt he gave up on himself once he started making all that money, this definitely changes my opinion on the matter and opens my eyes on it way more. He seems like a very classy guy who just had bad luck due to an injury to prevent him from playing the sport he loved and that sucks. Watching him play some one on one with her, he looked so happy that was good to see, props to this woman for doing this, well worth the watch even if you weren't a fan of Big Country, thanks OP! Once this video goes viral and everyone who was a fan or not watches this, he should make an appearance in Vancouver again I think the support for him would be much higher then it was before watching this. I know he says he doesn't like all that attention, but just one appearance would be all he would need to do, would be nice to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down by the River Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 3 hours ago, ChuckNORRIS4Cup said: Wow what a great documentary, I'm not a basketball fan, watched a bit of basketball back in the 90's, so I remember the Grizzlies and Big Country, and like most fans felt he gave up on himself once he started making all that money, this definitely changes my opinion on the matter and opens my eyes on it way more. He seems like a very classy guy who just had bad luck due to an injury to prevent him from playing the sport he loved and that sucks. Watching him play some one on one with her, he looked so happy that was good to see, props to this woman for doing this, well worth the watch even if you weren't a fan of Big Country, thanks OP! Once this video goes viral and everyone who was a fan or not watches this, he should make an appearance in Vancouver again I think the support for him would be much higher then it was before watching this. I know he says he doesn't like all that attention, but just one appearance would be all he would need to do, would be nice to see. I definitely saw that as well. Was awesome. When Jayme did the interview immediately after, you could really see how much she appreciated this opportunity. It wasn't just someone trying to track down a good story that she thought OTHER people would be interested in... it was something that she was really invested in as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6string Posted October 23, 2018 Share Posted October 23, 2018 Huge fan of the Grizzles, had season tickets. Emotional film, bring Bryant and his family home for an evening of appreciation! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckNORRIS4Cup Posted October 23, 2018 Share Posted October 23, 2018 20 hours ago, linden17 said: What a great post. Thank you so much, honeydews. It would of been nice if there was some more in depth questions about the actual grizzlies and the locker room but beggars cant be choosers. Well there is a link in the post saying, "Local filmmaker reveals new Vancouver Grizzlies movie in the works", so chances are that talk you want will be in that video. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckNORRIS4Cup Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 Bump 5 days old and people can't find it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johngould21 Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 Fabulous documentary, shows that Big Country was indeed a humble human being. Too bad he was injured to the point of not being able to play. According to Shaq, he was the toughest big man to play against. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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