Josh Kahn film ‘Devonte’ shows pressure Chicago athletes face on and off the field in Slamdance Film Festival entry

It’s not easy to get the highs and lows of being a professional athlete encapsulated in the span of a half-hour. But that’s what Josh Kahn, director, writer and executive producer, did in “Devonte,” a faux-documentary style film that will be featured in the virtual 2022 Slamdance Film Festival.

The independent film is an experimental project for Kahn, who spent his formative years (post film school) working with the Chicago Bulls on BullsTV, the mixed media production arm of the basketball team that entails bulls.com and the Bulls’ social channels.

The work features a day in the life of quarterback Devonte Mitchell after signing a $145 million contract to play in his hometown of Chicago. Viewers are taken through the drama that unfolds prior to his debut news conference — the demands and the personal trauma that he deals with during this moment in his young life.

According to Kahn, the film was created years ago with nothing but an outline of a script, and shot for $5,000 in 3½ days. The result shows the pressure athletes endure in front of the lens and the breaking points of human facades. That’s something we keep seeing with pro athletes, such as Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka and Antonio Brown, Kahn said.

The Chicago Tribune talked with Kahn, a New York transplant who moved to Chicago and is now based in Los Angeles helming his own storytelling incubator, Myles (this was after producing for the sports storytelling platform, Uninterrupted). Kahn shares his thoughts on Chicago’s relationship with professional athletes and why “Devonte” had to be told through a Chicago lens. The interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Q: Tell us more about the film’s trajectory?

After spending a lot of time at the Bulls organization, I wanted to make a commentary on a bit of that world that surrounded everything. I pulled from a lot of different narratives, a lot of different players I had worked with over the years and found that these players are extraordinary people. However, they’re exposed to a lot of pressure, and they also have their own childhood traumas and things that we all experience. They’re human beings. As much as they might get a bad rap in the news, there was always something deeper and there wasn’t really an ally for them to really understand what they were going through.

Chicago is a place where athletes are treated larger than life, almost like public utilities. But they’re just human beings. I wanted to make a commentary on that and the other intersecting pieces. I spent a lot of time on the West Side working at the United Center, and I spent a lot of time on the South Side, working on a lot of community focused initiatives while I was at the organization. I got a really interesting purview into some of the issues that face the region.

We shot the film five or six years ago; really determined to make something. I had an opportunity to work for Uninterrupted and moved to LA and had an opportunity to be a part of the “player empowerment movement” over the last five years. During that time, the film just sat on the shelf. When the pandemic hit, I had an opportunity to finish it. It was amazing when Slamdance reached out and thought the film was relevant to today’s climate in terms of athletes and mental health.

Q: As a storyteller, what does Chicago lend to the film?

I really wanted to make a film that felt like it was of Chicago because Chicago is an extraordinarily rich place to tell stories, and I don’t think it always gets the platform it fully deserves. I think Chicago is probably the best representation of the cross section of America. I can’t say enough about the creative talent that’s in the space. For my whole cast and crew, especially Julian Parker and Tyrone Phillips ... they were just incredible. Honestly, the theater community in Chicago, I couldn’t say more about that community and how much people committed to the film and were incredible collaborators.

I’ve worked in sports in Los Angeles. I grew up in New York. When I came to Chicago, I really saw the understanding that the fans had on a deeper level for the sports and how they regarded it. It was something the city is engaged in on a much deeper level than in other larger cities with their athletes and their teams. All those things are magnified through the lens of the media. ... And as someone who was on the ground, I could see the disconnect between these athletes living their lives and how things would be magnified in certain ways.

Q: Do you feel athlete stories like this keep being told because no one’s gotten the balance of personal-private life right yet?

The film was shot six years ago. So, there’s a lot of things that have unfolded in the lexicon since then. I do think there is a fascination with fame in society and this notion that if you achieve those things, then things must be better for you in some type of way. We’re fascinated with the double-edged sword and the complexity that comes with these prestigious situations for individuals.

In terms of these stories and how they’re told, I couldn’t speak exactly to who’s getting it right, who’s not getting it right. This film was really about the relationship between an athlete, their past, and the city through the prism of a camera lens. It’s just trying to provoke thoughts about how we look at our athletes and how they are human; that in itself is something that is continuing to be told. I think it’s been told more in the last five years especially with the player empowerment movement as more athletes continue to commission their own projects and really harness the power of their own voices. This film was made before that movement started. And I’ve been a big part of that movement and working with athletes in my life as I’ve lived my art over the last five years. I’ve spent a lot of time with embattled athletes, athletes struggling with mental health, athletes in rehab, athletes who are entrepreneurs — all different sorts of dynamics.

Q: What can athletes do as far as making the relationship with their city better?

I was around Derrick Rose in his early years. And athletes that have come from other cities, like Joakim Noah, really embraced the city. No matter whether the athletes are from the cities or they are transplants, I think they give a lot more to the city than sometimes folks realize. There’s obviously what they do on the court, which I think is a lot more physical and emotional duress than folks realize. I think they do really try a lot.

They are young kids — ages like 20 to 30. Just finding a more humanistic way to empathize with them will change folks’ understanding of what they do. And that’s really what the film is about, it’s about how who they are sometimes gets broadcast in ways that maybe is missing the humanity of it. I believe a lot of these athletes are trying their best to engage with the cities they play for, but sometimes they’re only judged based on how they perform. You can’t paint everything with the same brush.

“Devonte” is airing in the episodic category in the Slamdance Film Festival through Feb. 6. For $10, virtual passes are available at slamdancechannel.com/register.

drockett@chicagotribune.com

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