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Undefeated

Set against the backdrop of a high school football season, Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin's documentary UNDEFEATED is an intimate chronicle of three underprivileged student-athletes from inner-city Memphis and the volunteer coach trying to help them beat the odds on and off the field. Founded in 1899, Manassas High School in North Memphis has never seen its football team, the Tigers, win a playoff game. In recent decades, the last-place Tigers had gone so far as to sell its regular season games to rival schools looking to chalk up an easy win. That began to change in 2004, when Bill Courtney, former high school football coach turned businessman, volunteered to lend a hand. When Courtney arrived, the Tigers were accustomed to timeworn equipment and a sorry patch of lawn as a practice field. Focusing on nurturing emotional as well as physical strength, Courtney has helped the Tigers find their footing and their confidence. The 2009 Summer/Fall football season promises to be the Tigers' best ever - perhaps the season that finally breaks the 110 year-old playoff jinx. It's the senior year for the team's star player, O.C., a left tackle blessed with power, size and speed. With football scholarships hanging in the balance, O.C. will have to juggle practice with the study sessions he needs to pass crucial exams. Also playing his last season is undersized offensive lineman Montrail - known to all as "Money"- an earnest honors student hoping to score an academic scholarship. For Chavis, a talented linebacker in his junior year, the challenge of 2009 lies in keeping his explosive temper in check - something the willful teenager isn't always interested in doing. For player and coaches alike, the coming season will be not only about winning games - it will be about how they grapple with the unforeseeable events that are part of football and part of life. (Source)

Set in the inner-city of Memphis, Undefeated chronicles the Manassas Tigers' 2009 football season, on and off-the-field, as they strive to win the first playoff game in the high school's 110-year history. A perennial whipping boy, in recent decades Manassas had gone so far as to sell their home games to the highest bidder, but that all changed in the spring of 2004 when Bill Courtney, a former high school football coach turned lumber salesman, volunteered to lend a hand. When he arrived, the team consisted of 17 players, some timeworn equipment and a patch of grass masquerading as a practice field. Focusing more on winning young men than football games, the football program nevertheless began resurrecting itself, and in 2009, features the most talented team Manassas has ever fielded; a team that seems poised to end the playoff jinx that has plagued the school since time immemorial. A coming-of-age documentary film, Undefeated provides audiences an intimate view of an underprivileged group of teens and their inspirational coach, as they attempt to make history. (Source)

The football program at Manassas High School in Memphis, Tennessee has earned a powerful reputation during the school's 110-year history, but unfortunately it doesn't happen to be a positive one. During the school's long history, the Manassas team has never been eligible for a single playoff game, and no one expected this to change before Bill Courtney entered the picture. Courtney is a businessman and football fan who took it upon himself to do something about the Manassas football program; he volunteered his services as coach and began shaping a hapless team into a program with genuine prospects. Documentary filmmakers Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin followed Courtney and his players through their 2009 season, and Undefeated is a documentary that examines the coach's efforts to give the school a winning season, as well as the sometimes complex relationship between Courtney, who is white and wealthy, and the players, who are all African-American and mostly come from communities stuck in a cycle of poverty and crime. Undefeated received its world premiere at the 2011 South by Southwest Film Festival. (Source)

Set against the backdrop of an American football season, Undefeated is a coming-of-age vérité film centering on three underprivileged student-athletes from inner-city Memphis and an unexpected volunteer coach who struggles to provide them with the discipline, resources and inspiration they'll need to not only overcome their bleak surroundings, but also to win the first playoff game in the high school's 110-year history. (Source)