Short Subject Documentary Film “Queen of Basketball” Advances To Shortlist For 94th Academy Awards

Out of 82 films that qualified for the Documentary Short Subject category for the 94th Academy Awards, “Queen of Basketball” moves on as one of the fifteen films that members of the Documentary Branch will vote upon before announcing the final nominations on Tuesday, February 8, 2022.

“Queen of Basketball,” tells the remarkable story of how Luisa “Lucy” Harris Stewart made history on numerous occasions; however, her accomplishments are mostly unknown and not highly publicized for the world to revere. Fortunately, this film is bringing her story to light, and Luisa “Lucy Harris Stewart deserves every flower under the sun and more, and I am delighted that we get to honor her while she is still alive.

Directed by Oscar® nominated and Emmy® winning filmmaker Ben Proudfoot (“A Concerto is a Conversation”) and produced by Breakwater Studios for The New York Times Op-Docs, “The Queen of Basketball” had its world premiere at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival. During Tribeca, Robin Roberts hosted Harris on ABC’s Good Morning America. 

View the documentary short “Queen of Basketball” via The New York Times YouTube channel below and enjoy.

ABOUT “QUEEN OF BASKETBALL” – The “Queen of Basketball” tells the story of Lusia “Lucy” Harris Stewart, a peerless pioneer in women’s basketball. She led a tiny rural Mississippi college to three national titles, scored the first basket in women’s Olympic history in 1976, and was the first and only woman drafted into the NBA. In 1992, she became one of the first two women inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Yet, she remains largely unknown, even among basketball enthusiasts.