Sports documentary content may be at its highest demand ever. Everywhere you turn, a new documentary series or film has been released, telling a compelling story that fans can appreciate and that can be appreciated by those unaware of the story they are watching. ESPN and their 30 for 30 series may have kicked this latest trend into high gear, but now. premium TV channels, streaming networks, and social media companies have pumped out non-fictional sports related content with no end in sight.
Amazon, who has received acclaim for their All or Nothing documentary series, is releasing a documentary on the Liverpool career of Steven Gerrard. Titled Make Us Dream, the film follows Gerrard through his entire career with Liverpool, going up through the youth program as a child to the end of his Liverpool career as captain.
Gerrard’s Liverpool career has had its share of ups and downs. There are the titles, culminating with the “Miracle of Istanbul” Champions League victory, but there was also the slip against Chelsea that sealed his last chance at winning the Premier League. What was most tragic for Gerrard was as a Liverpool youth player was that he lost his 10-year-old cousin in the Hillsborough disaster. Based on the trailer, Gerrard will face these moments and show how that has shaped his life.
Unlike many other sports documentaries, Amazon will be releasing Make Us Dream in UK theaters on November 15 before having it available on Amazon Prime.
James Gay-Rees is producing the film, and he has previously worked on documentaries covering Formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna (Senna) and singer Amy Winehouse (Amy). I haven’t seen Amy, but I have seen Senna, and it was one of the best documentaries I have ever seen. In Senna, the decision was made to have the entire film consist of archival footage either from F1 or the Senna family, with interviews either from the time or for the movie included in the film, and that was a great move. Gay-Rees is working on another documentary on the career of Diego Maradona, which will also be on Amazon Prime.
[Variety]
