Pinoy Hoops is a new 3-part documentary mini series about basketball in the Philippines, it will show why we love the sport and how Filipinos live with the sport. The new series will premiere in National Geographic Channel on October 21, 2013 at 9pm. The docu is not just an ordinary docu, it is also a video diary of Rafe Bartholomew, the author of the best-selling book "Pacific Rim", its not about mecha or robots fighting giant monsters, but this one came first and its all about his investigation why we Filipinos are so obsessed with basketball. The documentary is like the book itself, but its a different version because he will explore around the country and visit remote places that has the weirdest and unique basketball court. We Filipinos do find ways to exercise our freedom for sport, and if you watch the 1st episode of Pinoy Hoops you will get some wow from it because there's a story behind every basketball court that are put up in every corner of the city and province here in the Philippines.
about the show
"National Geographic Channel Philippines presents an original production on why Filipinos love BASKETBALL. Author and basketball nut, Rafe Bartholomew, goes on an immersive journey into the heart and soul of Asia’s Basketball Mecca, the Philippines.
Uncovering a world many locals have never been, his travels take him from back-alley courts and mountainsides, to dugouts and national championship games.
Catch PINOY HOOPS premiering on Oct 21, Monday at 9pm."
I just saw the first episode and its one of the best documentary that sets the Philippines as the stage of the topic. I learned that this docu started in 2011 and was finished 2013, and by that time, Rafe is still working on his book "Pacific Rim", he stayed here in the Philippines for three years, and he learned how to understand and speak our local language - Tagalog. In this documentary, you'll see him interact with Filipinos and uses our Tagalog language in communicating to people, its so cute to see him talk in fluent tagalog, and this shows he is a good candidate for more video documentary in the future.
For a little teaser, in episode one you'll see how a local community help each other to up a basketball court in a dangerous building, kids help each other to make their own make shift basketball hoops, the investigation about rebels vs. govt soldiers play basketball as ceasefire, the PBA mania and the Ginebra mystique, why we love this sport? why we love basketball, how people grew up with it and how we live with it. All of this will be answered in the Pinoy Hoops docu at National Geographic Channel.
Btw, I saw their TV ad when I was in Malaysia last September 2013, and kudos to the mighty team of Natgeo and Fox International Channel for producing this documentary for all of us pinoys. You will enjoy this mini series, because it is beautifully edited, and the story is well delivered. I'm not sure if there will be English subtitles in the tagalog part of the series. But I'm sure Natgeo will insert those in the main premiere of Pinoy Hoops.
NGC is seen on Sky Cable Ch.41, Destiny Cable Ch.55, Cable Link Ch 58, Dream Ch 28, Cignal Digital TV ch 76, Gsat Ch14, and over 300 cable operators nationwide
Here's the trailer of Pinoy Hoops
via http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151989550501289
source: http://www.facebook.com/NatGeoChannelPhilippines
The host of Pinoy Hoops - Rafe Bartholomew
He's tall, white, American, author and Pinoy basketball fanatic, he can speak tagalog fluently and he was mistaken sometimes as Redford White hahha.
Me with Rafe, I told him that I blogged here his book launch years ago, and I missed it hahaha. I'm glad that he's back here and now extends his investigation thru National Geographic Channel.
PBA Action, one of the major influence why we love the sport. More of this on Eps 2.
Gangsta basketball in Caloocan City. When I saw this feature, I started to miss Caloocan City, we lived there for almost 10 years.
Basketball in remote areas, Rafe visited some provinces and he revealed some secrets behind the basketball courts of a certain town.
here are some photos from the media launch that I attend last Oct 8, 2013
Jude Tuarcuato, Head of Fox International Channel Philippine and rep. speaker for Natgeo
"Pinoy Hoops is for basketball fans or sports fan, its really more for people who just love stories and figuring out why things the way they are, we will show episode 1 on Oct 21, its about Rafe going to different places and most of you probably wont go there anyway, you can witness basketball there and you will see how prevalent and passionate we Filipinos about basketball, and anywhere you go here in the Philippines, from the big dome or the big arena, basketball is very passionate for everybody. The succeeding episode covers different topics, Eps 2 covers the professional side of the PBA and even the Ginebra mystique, it looks at certain individual that people also don't realize why they are a big part of basketball.
You will enjoy episode 1, its really more a testament and statement about the culture of Filipinos and
how basketball became attached to it. "
Rafe Bartholomew
"I lived here in the Philippines for three years to do research for Pacific Rim, and I've been to many places in the Philippines, basketball here have a lot of form and got lots of location, we visited it and shot it for this documentary, there are many things that blew my mind, there are times that you thought you've seen it all, but some of the basketball courts we visited and the people we spoke to, really make me even see more side of what basketball is all about in this country, It really is endless to keep on finding the different angles and discover different places"
Preview of episode 1 of Pinoy Hoops was screened here in Terrace restaurant in Maxims Hotel, Resorts World Manila.
Don't miss to watch Pinoy Hoops in National Geographic Channel on Oct 21, 2013 at 9pm
My wish is that Natgeo should do more docus about the scenes here in the Philippines, but this is one cool content for the world, I hope they can make more episode of Pinoy Hoops.
