We are highlighting films included at the upcoming Filmland Film Festival, hosted by the Arkansas Cinema Society in Little Rock. Filmland opens tomorrow and will continue through Sunday. Ozarks at Large's Sophia Nourani spoke with Mississippi born director Princeton James about his film "Hoop Street," which focuses on a hot headed high school basketball player barred from his school's basketball team. The film shows how David fights to push past his anger to earn a spot on a summer league team. It's his last chance to earn a life changing scholarship.
Princeton James says he began as a producer on "Hoop Street," eventually agreeing to direct when executive director and writer Teresa Dickerson asked him to fill that role.
James: She was just running into some challenges on producing her movie, so I really wanted to get on her side of the ring on producing this movie. So I prayed with her, and I just saw that it was just a great opportunity. So at first I did not agree to direct it, but then as I prayed about it, I talked to my business partners. I agreed to direct it, but I agree from the jump to produce it. I agree to get in the ring with her because I thought that her vision was very, very important. It was an important story to tell at this time, and it was a Memphis story and a southern story and a story of resilience in young people overcoming things. So yeah, I was super excited. That's how it came about.
Nourani: Sure. And then kind of going based off of that, the story of it, it's based in Memphis, and I believe it's about a student, a high school student, a basketball player with some anger issues who's trying to get a spot on a summer league team. Describe the plot of that story and how that came together.
James: Yeah. It's just a story of a young man that has gone through some challenges, that grows up as what some people would consider a statistic in a neighborhood that have been marginalized and don't have as many opportunities as others. So he just ran into some challenges. His mom is out on drugs and his dad is in jail and he's raised by his grandmother, but he has a temper issue and just navigating life, trying to overcome some things, trying to learn himself and then trying to navigate life with the tools that he has at the moment. But then he's covered with some other, like a village, a village of people who care about him, and meets a coach who kind of like pretty much changes his life. So yeah, that's pretty much what the movie is about without giving it away. But yeah, it's a beautiful project.
Nourani: How does it feel for you to have this film recognized at Filmland in Little Rock, and the connection to Arkansas there? I mean, obviously Memphis is, I mean, arguably part of Arkansas with West Memphis and Memphis combined. But yeah, tell me about that.
James: I just think like we have this like Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, all of us are like first cousins. So like we're part of one big happy family. So I just think that it's also great to go over to your cousin's house and be able to show what we made at our home. So I just really feel like it's a beautiful experience to connect with other people. There's some incredible filmmakers and incredible talent that comes out of Arkansas as well, just to be able to like share space with them, share their work, and then look forward to seeing their work in Tennessee. So I think it's just like a liberating experience in a way, and I'm just excited to be a part of it.
Nourani: Thank you so much. To kind of transition from that, I want to talk a little bit more about you. Are you from Arkansas originally?
James: No, I'm originally from Mississippi, so definitely a southern boy. I travel a lot to do work. So I've done some work in Arkansas and other places. But yeah, I'm a southern boy through and through.
Nourani: How did you first come into the arts?
James: Oh, so I've always wanted to be an artist and I always felt like in my soul, I was a creative at heart, even though I come from a very small town and we didn't have any theaters, any performing arts enrichment activities. Nothing. Church and band were the only two ways to express that. And I told my teacher when I was in third grade, I wanted to be an actor, and she told me to be realistic. I was going to be an accountant. So I believed that. And I got my degree in accounting, and she loved me. She was just trying to protect me because she had never known anyone come from Coldwater, Mississippi, to become that.
"But after college, I went to an acting class just to try it out, and I fell in love. As soon as I seen the script, I knew that was, that is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. And so I moved to Atlanta. I was working a full time job and acting there. I loved it, and then God gave me a vision of a stage play and I left my job after hearing the preacher say, people will suffer if you don't operate in your gift. And I left my job and I came back to Memphis, started my production company, and here we are, theater and film.
Nourani: You wrote a play, which is super cool. When I say the arts, I definitely mean more than one art. How did you kind of focus in on specifically what you were interested in and find your passion in theater and film?
James: I knew I wanted to create a new normal in our industry, and that came from wanting to treat people well while doing excellent work. And also, I knew I wanted to create something that can be transformed in many different ways. Like that's why I decided to approach immersive theater and interactive dinner theater experiences rather than the traditional form of theater. I just wanted to make sure that I was contributing to the, not only the entertainment, entertaining people with passive consumption, but just making sure that they feel engaged and felt joy and laughter and fun and interaction. We live in a world where there's not a lot of required interaction in person with people. So with the social murder mystery, it requires that. So that's what made me go on that path.
"And then when it came to filmmaking and television, I just really wanted to work on projects that treated people well and created a core value system of love and integrity and a passion and hard work and excellence and all the things. And then also left the ladder down and the door open and created workforce development and performing arts enrichment opportunities for young people and emerging creatives as well. So just not wanting to do the work, but to wanting to create impact while doing the work is what pushes me forward.
Nourani: And kind of going into that, can you tell me a little bit about Princeton James Productions? I'm assuming it has a lot to do with what you were just talking about.
James: Yeah. So it's basically, I have three different facets and it's theater. So we do the Soulful Murder Mystery, which is an interactive dinner theater experience. And we have film, which produced Gravity Productions. I'm a partner with that film company. We produce numerous of projects. And we have a slate of projects in development now. And then we also have a nonprofit outreach portion of the company where we do something called the Kooler Kids Performing Arts Enrichment Camp, where we're able to provide performing arts enrichment opportunities to young people in underserved communities. So we've been able to impact about 20,000 kids over the last five years, and we plan on impacting more. It's also an opportunity for industry professionals and artists to be trained as teaching artists in order to provide for these young people that don't have the experience.
Nourani: Thank you so much for your time and for speaking with me.
James: Thank you.
That's Ozarks at Large's Sophia Nourani speaking with director Princeton James, talking about his film "Hoop Street." It'll be screened in Little Rock this week as part of the Arkansas Cinema Society's Filmland Film Festival. That festival opens tomorrow and runs through Sunday. You can keep up with Princeton's work at his website, PrincetonJamesProductions.com. More about Filmland 2026 can be found at ArkansasCinemaSociety.org.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
