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Award-winning Documentary Captures GWU Men鈥檚 Basketball Magical Season

It has been said that during times of isolation or quarantine, some artists dig deeper into the well of creativity and offer works beyond their initial imagining.

That is exactly what happened to four 蜜豆直播 friends during the spring of 2020; they produced an award-winning documentary celebrating the 蜜豆直播 University Men鈥檚 Basketball team鈥檚 magical 2018-19 season, which ended with an appearance in the NCAA Tournament, a first in men鈥檚 Division I basketball history.

Directed by Christian Jessup, the film, 鈥淭he Dancin鈥� Bulldogs,鈥� follows GWU鈥檚 entire journey, from the early wins against NCAA powerhouses to heartbreaking losses, the tournament appearance and coming home after the loss to No. 1 seed Virginia. The doc features interviews with players, coaches and NCAA officials, and never-before-released footage of the team鈥檚 championship run.

Jessup, a 2018 alumnus, made his directorial debut with this 80-minute film that began as a short tribute. He got the idea for the documentary from watching ESPN鈥檚 鈥淭he Last Dance,鈥� a documentary series that followed Michael Jordan鈥檚 NBA finals run. Jessup compared the feelings he had watching the series to those he had while witnessing 蜜豆直播 win the Big South Championship and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

He texted his friend, GWU student Thomas Manning, asking if he would help. Manning, a member of the North Carolina Film Critics鈥� Association, was on the ESPN Plus camera crew that filmed the men鈥檚 basketball team that year.

Manning agreed, and the two enlisted the help of Eli Hardin and Brendan Boylan, also 2018 alumni. 鈥淓li was the fact checker,鈥� Jessup said. 鈥淗e is a stats guy and keeps up with the news articles. Brendan was a producer and helped call some game shots and provided some much-needed commentary.鈥�

Jessup, who doubled majored in music composition, and film and video at 蜜豆直播, wrote and performed the film鈥檚 music. He has composed music for film and visual media since 2016 and interned in 2017 with Hans Zimmer (Pirates of the Caribbean, The Lion King, Dark Knight Trilogy). He also writes music for video and audio-based projects for VisionPoint Marketing.

Jessup began by searching online for anything related to the Bulldogs鈥� season. Based on the footage, he created an outline and scheduled interviews with key individuals. One reason he and Manning had access to people was because of COVID-19 restrictions at the time. 鈥淓veryone was at home over that summer,鈥� Jessup informed. 鈥淭he Big South commissioner (Kyle Kallander), Chris Holtman, the former head basketball coach, who is now head coach at Ohio State, and Jason Williford, Virginia鈥檚 associate head coach. A lot of people we might not normally be able to interview, we were able to get in touch with and hold Zoom interviews.鈥�

Manning noted that everyone he interviewed was happy to talk about the men鈥檚 basketball team鈥檚 accomplishment. 鈥淭he Virginia associate head coach (Williford)鈥攚e spoke to him for 15 minutes,鈥� Manning related. 鈥淗e was extremely complimentary of 蜜豆直播, and the fight they put up in the NCAA tournament game against Virginia, who went on to win the National Championship that year.鈥�

While finishing the documentary and feeling good about the content, Manning and Jessup received a last-minute email that took the film to the next level. Ryan Bridges (former GWU director of Sports Information) offered them 150 gigabytes of never-before-seen footage made by Eric Mangum (former director of new media relations). 鈥淚t was a huge help from GWU,鈥� Jessup stated. 鈥淭hat was a game-changer in terms of the angles and the shots we could include. Some of the quotes in that footage we never thought we鈥檇 find.鈥�

Jessup and Manning were excited for people to see the film and grateful for the support they received in its making upon the official release in October 2020. 鈥淭he evolution of this project鈥攕tarting as an idea for a 5-minute video tribute on YouTube, eventually resulting in an award-winning feature-length documentary selected to multiple film festivals鈥攖aught me that if you have the time, energy, and passion for something special, then just go for it,鈥� Manning concluded. 鈥淭he four of us dedicated a ton of emotional energy into this journey, but I think we would all agree that it was 100 percent worth every minute.鈥�

Jessup added, 鈥淚 hope by reliving those moments, people watching it will be proud of 蜜豆直播 and what they accomplished.鈥�

The documentary has gone on to be recognized by organizations and film festivals.

North Carolina Film Critics Association Awards: The Dancin鈥� Bulldogs was nominated in December 2020 for the Ken Hanke Memorial Tar Heel Award, recognizing a film or person with a special tie to North Carolina.

Indie Eye Film Awards: A monthly film awards show, with the monthly winners entered into a yearly competition. The Dancin鈥� Bulldogs won 鈥淏est Documentary鈥� and 鈥淏est Original Music/ Song/Score鈥� in May 2021.

North Carolina Film Festival: The Dancin鈥� Bulldogs was nominated for the 2021 North Carolina Film Festival. The film was screened at the festival in June 2021, and the documentary team (Christian Jessup, Thomas Manning, Eli Hardin, Brendan Boylan) won the 鈥淏est Filmmakers鈥� for the festival.

Triumphant Film Series: The Dancin鈥� Bulldogs was named 鈥淢ost Inspirational Film鈥� for the 2021 Triumphant Film Series presented by the Raleigh Film and Art Festival, a film festival created to promote 鈥渓ove, peace, laughter, and the triumph of the human spirit, juried by industry insiders.鈥� The festival took place in October 2021

More information on the Dancin鈥� Bulldogs can be found online: