Kobe Bryant’s studio has released his Oscar-winning short, “Dear Basketball” for free following his death on Sunday.
Granity Studios was behind the animated Basketball poem come to life, which was written by Kobe Bryant himself. The NBA All-Star wrote the poem to announce his retirement from basketball back in November 2015. The poem originally showed up on The Players’ Tribune, a site that publishes first-person accounts from pro-athletes. The film was directed and animated by Glen Keane, and Oscar-winning composer John Williams provided the musical score.
“It’s a message for all of us,” said Keane as he accepted the Oscar for “Dear Basketball” alongside Bryant in 2018. “It’s through passion and perseverance that the impossible is possible.”
Clocking in at under just five minutes, the unique animation style tells the story of one young boy living out his basketball dreams. Kobe Bryant narrated Dear Basketball himself.
Granity Studios was just one of many projects that Bryant working on post-retirement from basketball. The studio is dedicated to bringing sports-themed stories “that are crafted to entertain, by bringing education and inspiration together,” according to the Granity Studios site. Granity published a young adult novel, “Legacy and the Queen” last September that was written by Annie Matthew from a story by Bryant, and produced a podcast, “The Punies,” that debuted last August. A second season had been announced.
The NBA legend died Sunday in a helicopter crash that killed eight other people, including Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter Gianna.
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