North Cook News

Chicago filmmaker Joe Dondanville discussed the significance of his documentary "GameChangers", which tells the story of the tensions surrounding the 1960s-era basketball games between Chicago Marshall and Winnetka New Trier, in an interview with North Cook News.

"Sport has that unique ability to bring people together, it obviously also elicits passion, given our discussion about Bennett and New Trier today, and that’s a good thing," Dondanville said, "but yeah, the backdrop of the times, it was pretty turbulent, and the games were dramatic, and there was a lot going on, but in the end, it really was about basketball for these guys, and sports is about relationships and the team, and there were some great coaches involved, all great coaches. It was a great story."

The film was created using rare 8mm footage of the two high school basketball games and, according to the official website, "sits at the intersection of sports, race and culture". The Journal Star reported that the 1965 and 1966 games between Marshall and New Trier were played amidst local and national racial tension. The supersectional games played at McGaw Memorial Hall in Evanston drew crowds of over 8,500 and culminated in a split, sending each team to the single-class state tournament.

Reports following the 1966 game indicated that, once it had ended, fights had broken out among the crowd and in a women's restroom, resulting in a hospitalized police officer and the arrest of four Marshall students. Most of the players on both teams were reportedly unaware of the violence.

The documentary consists of over 40 interviews and features conversations between two former players from each team. Dondanville hopes that his film will help provide more attention to the GameChangers 65-66 Foundation, which aims to use basketball as a means of breaking down barriers and forming connections between high school communities.