The Rising | Rakuten — T. Austin Gardner

The Rising - Director

NBA superstar Steph Curry learns streetball moves in an alley, a freestyle basketball legend tears up Tokyo, young athletes reveal how basketball saved their lives… there’s a lot packed into this short doc by Rakuten.

Agency Limitless
Client Rakuten

Directed by Austin Gardner
Camera Joe Sailer, Matt Dillman, Brice Pardo
Written by Lea Artz
Producer Sami Masaki
Producer Carlos Toraya
Producer Sam Kfare
Producer Lea Artz
Editor Matt Rice
Audio Ben Frazier
Color Hector Perez
Art Direction & GFX Dai Tamura
BTS Photography Steve Gaudin
BTS Videography Hans Bobánovits
Executive Producers Edward Young, Edgar Quezada

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Meet Jinji and Junn.

In addition to the longer film, four mini docs were produced in order to delve deeper into some of the characters individual stories. Jinji gives a glimpse into the world of Japanese freestyle basketball, which blends basketball, dance, and acrobatics into a new artform. Junn is a promising young athlete who refuses to loose. Especially not to the boys.