Jeremy Lin 'Linsanity' Documentary Premieres at 2013 Sundance Film Festival
Jeremy Lin may no longer be playing under the lights of Madison Square Garden, but his "Linsanity" is still being viewed in a new documentary that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival recently.
Lin, 24-year-old Houston Rockets guard, rose to fame when the Christian athlete became a New York Knicks starter last February after all of the team's guards suffered from injuries. The guard became known as "Linsanity" when he became the first player in NBA history to put up numbers of at least 20 points and seven assists in each of his first four starting games.
The "Linsanity" documentary made its debut at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival Sunday. Evan Jackson Leong directed the project and first approached Lin about the opportunity to do so while he was playing for Harvard University.
The film focuses Lin's California upbringing, his matriculation through Harvard University where he played basketball yet remained unrecruited by the NBA before being accepted into the league and waived by two teams. Lin's appearance in the D-League that led him to becoming a starter for the New York Knicks also appeared in the film, which will also highlight his Christian faith.
After the screening of the documentary, Leong told the audience that his passion fueled him to complete the project.
"It was a project of passion. We had no money. Nobody cared about our project before February of last year," Leong said. "In a documentary like this you don't know how it's going to end."
Lin himself spoke about the project in an MMXLII.com report.
"I'm just definitely trying to tell me story through my own eyes. I was going to kill some of the filmers during some of those tough times, getting cut and stuff. But they did a good job staying on me and making me at least get a couple minutes of footage here and there," Lin said about the documentary. "So there's some cool stuff in there. When things weren't going well that was the last thing on my mind. But going back I'm glad we got it because it's able to just show the journey."
The Los Angeles Times reported that "Linsanity" was well received by audiences who stood and cheered at the conclusion of the film.
