BuzzFeed News Reporter Kelley L. Carter recently chronicled Chris Webber’s foray into the film industry as his latest project made its debut at Sundance – an American independent film festival that takes place annually in Park City, Utah.
“The former standout at the University of Michigan… and NBA superstar has shifted his competitive nature to the film industry,” writes Carter. “He wants to smash stereotypes, and not just for athletes.”
Webber’s first feature film Unexpected, delves into “issues like juggling surprise motherhood while not losing sight of one’s career aspirations, and the hard decisions that come from being a parent, regardless of age, and how socioeconomic status can affect the choices afforded to a working mother,” explains Carter.
The former Kings All-Star, who is the son of a Detroit public school teacher, “loved that it wasn’t the stereotypical basketball [movie], something that maybe you would expect a basketball player to come up with.”
Webber has shown his interest in culture and diversity since entering the league in 1993. Beginning in ’94 C-Webb began collecting African-American art and artifacts and routinely exhibits the collection at museums and public buildings.
Much of his collection resides permanently at the Sacramento Public Library and remains there until March 2, in conjunction with Black History Month.
Learn more about Webber’s African American Artifacts Collection by clicking here.
In addition to his collection, Webber also began a production fund, which was intended to support “independent films, especially those with African-American storylines,” said the film’s director Kris Swanberg to BuzzFeed News.
That was how the script came to him initially at Sundance in 2014.
His producing partner “[Peter] Gilbert who found Swanberg and Megan Mercier’s script at Sundance last year and brought it to Webber, knowing that it fit in with Webber’s mission to support black-centered stories,” writes Carter.
Webber’s goal is to help break stereotypes, particularly as a black man in sports. “Knowing the narrative that they tell on us and knowing it’s not true and not by people who are in our situations,” said Webber. “I feel it’s my responsibility to have films show a different narrative.”