Freep Film Festival Features 'Rouge'

"Rouge," a full-length documentary by filmmaker Hamoody Jaafar, a Downriver native who tells not only the story of the 2020 team working toward the school's 15th state championship but also the history of River Rouge basketball and the lasting threads in the modern era.

Highlights of the film -

In the 1950s, legendary high school basketball coach Lofton Greene led the recently racially integrated River Rouge High School Panthers to a record number of state championships in a league of otherwise segregated schools. Now, almost 70 years later, LaMonta Stone, a former Panther himself, has returned to the struggling industrial town of River Rouge to help the Panthers chase the school's 15th State Championship. In this coming-of-age story, Stone and four of his student-athletes strive in their quest to fulfill generations worth of work on and off the court. In addition to its primary characters, the film includes appearances by Michigan State Basketball Head Coach Tom Izzo, Detroit Pistons announcer George Blaha and longtime Free Press high school sports writer Mick McCabe, among others. Michigan premiere.

After the films: On Wednesday, Shawn Windsor, Free Press sports columnist, talks to Hamoody Jafaar, director and producer; Razi Jafri, producer; LaMonta Stone, director of basketball operations at Eastern Michigan University and former boys' basketball head coach at River Rouge High School; and Legend Geeter, who plays forward on EMU's men's basketball team and played for River Rouge. On Friday, Andrew Birkle, assistant sports editor at the Free Press, talks to Jaafar, Jafri, Stone and Geeter.

The documentary will show on Wednesday and Friday. and will be available virtually.

7 p.m. Wed., April 10, Detroit Film Theatre at the Detroit Institute of Arts

6 p.m. Fri., April 12, Michigan Science Center (IMAX)

Available virtually.

To purchase tickets visit - https://www.goelevent.com/Freep/e/Rouge

About Freep Film Festival

The Freep Film Festival will showcase films that are about or relevant to Detroit, the region and Michigan in the hopes of fostering engagement and discussion about the issues and challenges we face while at the same time celebrating what makes us unique.