Life without Basketball (2018) DOC NYC 2018

Excellent look at Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir a top college basketball player who ran into trouble when she was informed that her hajib could not be warn at the next level. This left her unable to play the game she loved and turned her into an activist fighting not just to get the rule change but for religious rights.

This is a beautiful portrait of a young woman, her beliefs, her cause and her family. Directors Jon Mercer & Tim O’Donnell have to be commended for putting together a sterling portrait of her subject that in many ways raises the bar for biographical documentaries because not only do we get a sense of who Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir is. We see her truly living life, with her family, praying and playing. Rarely have I come out of a film with such a real sense of not so much having seen a film but hung out with a person.

Highly recommended when the film plays at DOC NYC Saturday.