Undefeated

Film Synopsis

Dir: Daniel Lindsay & T J Martin
USA/2011/113mins

2012 Oscar Winner: Best Documentary

Directors Daniel Lindsay and T J Martin’s Oscar winning documentary Undefeated is the tale of what may well be the ultimate underdog high school football team – the Manassas Tigers from North Memphis. The team with their scrappy playing field and old equipment, have never done well, they haven’t won a game in a decade - in fact they haven’t won a playoff in 110-years. But in 2004 Bill Courtney, local businessman and a former high school football coach, offered to help. Devoting his energies not just to the processes associated with physical coaching but also to emotional support for the players, Courtney hopes to turn the team around. But, as the film reveals, for some of the team there’s more at stake than winning games.
 
Edited from 500 hours of footage shot over the course of the 2009 season, the filmmakers create an absorbing and insightful documentary that goes far beyond the familiar story of college football. More than sport (but never forgetting the game) Undefeated offers human stories, looking into the lives and dreams, failures and successes of this handful of athletes from the wrong side of the tracks and the coach who tells his team that football does not build character, it reveals it.

Proudly supported by: