note:

In February of 2021, I moved to NYC with sights of becoming a documentary filmmaker and to tell stories on any groups, gatherings, subcultures without any biases. Just simply a peek into a scene giving viewers a chance to make their own observations and findings. What interests me are the differences on ubiquitous feelings/activities. We all laugh, we cry, we eat and the purpose of my work is to portray acts across the cultures.

TOURNEY DAY is my first piece of work upon landing in NYC. Naturally, it came from an activity I’ve participated in my whole life: the game of basketball. Prior to tournament day, I had been playing pick-up ball at these courts weekly since transplanting to Bushwick. I had developed relationships with hoopers in the neighborhood. We’d ball, talk shit, smoke some weed and do it all over again. No one cared where you came from, what shoes you had on, or anything other than what you can do on the court. If you can ball, you get respect. And I got my respect.

Developing these relationships allowed everyone to feel comfortable around me. Hence why I was able to document the tournament. The tournament was completely organized locally with a pay-to-play point of entry and the winning team collected the cash prize. A notable point to consider is that the tournament occurred the day before the city shut down the park for a developmental construction project. The reconstruction included a synthetic soccer field and a readjustment to the basketball courts and projected to be completed the following year. Point is these are the last buckets scored in the historical park of Maria Hernandez.

Video is shot, edited, and produced by me. Photos were shot by Chris Hagan. And a special shout out to NEGATIVELAND in Queens for developing and digitizing the super 8 film reel.