Dr. Samantha Sheppard (’07) will present an in-depth analysis of the sports film genre, focusing on its portrayal of Black athletes, through the lens of Jessie Maple’s groundbreaking independent feature “Twice as Nice” (’89). The event will feature a screening of the film, followed by a discussion on the conventions of basketball films and Maple’s portrayal of Black women college athletes during a time before the creation of professional leagues such as the WNBA. Drawing upon her first book, “Sporting Blackness: Race, Embodiment, and Critical Muscle Memory on Screen” (University of California Press, 2020), as well as her forthcoming publication, “The Basketball Film: A Cultural and Transmedia History” (Rutgers University Press), Dr. Sheppard will highlight the basketball film as a significant genre for understanding race and representation in American cinema.

Samantha N. Sheppard is an associate professor of cinema & media studies in the Dept. of Performing and Media Arts at Cornell University. She is the author of Sporting Blackness: Race, Embodiment, and Critical Muscle Memory on Screen (Uni. of California Press, 2020) and co-editor of From Madea to Media Mogul: Theorizing Tyler Perry (Uni. Press of Mississippi, 2016) and Sporting Realities: Critical Readings on the Sports Documentary (Uni. of Nebraska Press, 2020). She has published essays in Film Quarterly, The Atlantic, Flash Art International, and Los Angeles Review of Books. She has also been featured on the podcast American Prodigies and the network Turner Classic Movies.  Her latest essay, “Deep Cuts,” was commissioned for Tiona Nekkia McClodden’s exhibition “The Trace of an Implied Presence,” organized by the artist and co-produced by Nike and The Shed.