Basketball Heaven
Basketball Heaven reveals the love, struggle, and triumph found in Kinston, North Carolina—a town that has produced the greatest number of NBA players in the world.
Bike Vessel
In this portrait of familial love, Donnie Seals Sr. undergoes a transformation after several medical crises and, at age 70, embarks on a long-distance cycling trip with his son.
- Series
- Independent Lens
- Premiere Date
- February 24, 2025
- Length
- 90 minutes
Director
Eric D Seals
Eric D. Seals is a seasoned director and cinematographer with over 10 years of experience since starting his career at ESPN. He's a Diverse Voices in Docs fellow with Kartemquin and a Netflix directing and producing fellow. Eric teaches production at DePaul University and heads Digifé, a company focusing on documentaries and social impact stories.
Producer
Donnie Seals Jr.
Donnie Seals Jr., an editor at Digital Cafe, found his passion for documentary filmmaking after watching Hoop Dreams. He was the editor for Freedom Hill, which is streaming on World Channel. He's currently directing The Gospel of Lou Della, the story of gospel music and one of its prominent change-makers on the South Side of Chicago.
Producer
Resita Cox
Resita Cox is an Emmy Award-winning documentary film director/producer. Raised in the South, her films center Southern, Black communities and are observational and impact driven. She holds an MFA from Northwestern University and was recently named an Esteemed Artist by the City of Chicago and a 2024 Rockwood Documentary Leaders Fellow.
- Other ITVS Films
- Basketball Heaven
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The Film
Donnie Seals Sr. enjoyed southern delicacies, drinking, and smoking until 1995, when he almost died. He underwent his first open-heart surgery before age 50 and had three quadruple bypass surgeries over subsequent years, leading to his early retirement. At the age of 70, Donnie now bicycles more than 30 miles each day. He went from taking over 20 daily medications to just one, and his heart problems have significantly improved.
His son, director Eric D. Seals, traces Donnie’s journey, recovery, and commitment to renewed health, while providing an intimate perspective into a Black working-class family in the Midwest. The documentary also follows father and son as they embark on a biking journey from St. Louis to Chicago. Eric, approaching the age at which his father underwent surgery and facing similar health conditions, experiences moments of self-reflection within this period of parent-child intimacy.
Bike Vessel serves as a meditation on kinship and connection, centered on a father who reclaims his life against all odds. It also examines health disparities among Black men, who statistically have the lowest life expectancy and highest death rate of all racial and ethnic groups. The film sheds light on issues within American medical culture, from complex and unaffordable insurance systems to racism and discrimination in healthcare.
