Ashe ‘68 VR Film Headed to Sundance 2019 Festival

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Ashe ‘68 VR film to premiere at 2019 Sundance Festival, in New Frontiers section.

“For over a decade, New Frontier has pushed the boundaries of the possible, illuminating the potential of technology and storytelling. These independent cross-media artists create new realities for, and with, their work — and the results inspire.”

-festival founder Robert Redford

 

Press

How Arthur Ashe Paved The Way For Political Athletes

a 1-hr discussion on NPR’s A1

LISTEN

Guests

  • Raymond Arsenault Historian; author, “Arthur Ashe: A Life”

  • Rex Miller Documentary creator and producer, “Ashe ‘68 Virtual Reality Experience”

  • Caitlin Thompson Publisher and co-founder of Racquet magazine, an independent quarterly about tennis; @caitlin_thomps

  • Charlie Pasarell Best friend of Arthur Ashe; former tennis player for Puerto Rico; a founder, National Junior Tennis League

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Sports Illustrated

360 VR Experience with Arthur Ashe

at the 1968 U.S. Open

A 360-degree, virtual reality video and rare collection of photos by John G. Zimmerman show Arthur Ashe's journey to becoming a tennis icon and the ordinary events that led up to his remarkable milestone in Forest Hills.


The Makers Of The Ashe '68 Documentary Project On Arthur Ashe's Legacy

Thirty Love: Conversations About Tennis by Carl Bialik on Apple (podcast)

Released 07 September 2018

LISTEN in i-tunes

Four of the people behind the Ashe '68 documentary project—creator and producer Rex Miller, co-documentary director Woody Richman, VR director Brad Lichtenstein, and exhibition producer and designer Bill Sullivan—join Thirty Love host Carl Bialik from the US Open to talk about Ashe's legacy, finding footage of the 1968 US Open champ, and re-creating the Forest Hills setting for Ashe's championship match on the 2018 US Open grounds.

Music by Lee Rosevere. 

NY Sports Day, August 26, 2018

The Week That Was: The US Open Hits The Big 5-0

by Lloyd Carroll

All those attending this year’s US Open should make it their business to catch the Ashe’68 VR Experience at the Chase Indoor Pavilion. By putting on a virtual reality headset you are transported to the US Open’s original home, the West Side Tennis Club, where Arthur Ashe has just defeated Tom Okker to win the very first US Open in 1968.

Director (Brad Lichtenstein) has carefully blended original footage of Ashe being interviewed by the likes of Howard Cosell,… with reenactments that were staged recently at the West Side Tennis Club. Rising American tennis player Chris Eubanks portrays the then 25 year-old Arthur Ashe.

While at the exhibit be sure to pay attention the blown-up black & white photos on the walls. My favorite is that of Ashe talking to a teen attendant in the cramped West Side Tennis Club locker room who is wearing a Forest Hills High School gym t-shirt.

The Jerusalem Post. (2018, September 13.)

Arthur Ashe and the Jews


“One playfully shared a story of how Ashe flirted with her when he was 14 and she was 16. Another reported that her cousin is married to Ashe’s brother.”

“It did a neat job in seven minutes of covering his rise and how he found his voice.” She is pleased that a longer documentary about Ashe will premier in 2019.

Milwaukee Business Journal. (2018, September 17).

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Milwaukee Startup's Arthur Ashe Virtual Reality Film Viewed At U.S. Open, May Get Sundance Invite

"Ashe '68 Virtual Reality Experience" was part of a multicomponent documentary project on Ashe at the U.S. Open.