'Rouge' documentary on historic high school basketball team kicks off Freep Film Festival

The winningest high school boys basketball program in state history had a chance to add another banner in a storybook season, and a filmmaker who watched the team growing up was there to capture it.

The result is "Rouge," a full-length documentary by filmmaker Hamoody Jaafar, a Downriver native who tells not only the story of the 2020 team working toward the school's 15th state championship but also the history of River Rouge basketball and the lasting threads in the modern era.

“Rouge” is the opening-night film for the 2024 and 11th annual Freep Film Festival, which starts Wednesday and runs through Sunday. The festival will begin with a screening of the film Wednesday night at the Detroit Film Theatre, inside the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Jaafar, who grew up watching River Rouge on local television as a Downriver kid who loved hoops, accidentally came across the story. In 2019, the aspiring filmmaker attended the Ypsi Tip-Off classic, a high school basketball tournament hosted at Eastern Michigan, with the hopes of filming superstar Emoni Bates and his Ypsilanti Lincoln team for a potential commercial to earn more work in the local filmmaking space, but ended up in the opponent’s locker room, River Rouge, after he was denied access to Lincoln’s locker room and the teenage superstar.

“I went there to film (Bates) to be honest,” Jaafar told the Free Press. “I got a little film crew together and was like ‘Hey, we have access to this event, we can go into the locker room, we can create something,' some proof of concept around Emoni Bates and maybe it’ll give me commercial work, booking TV commercials or helping build my resume or body of work.”

Instead, the 37-year-old director saw a story that transported him back to his childhood. Inside the River Rouge locker room, he saw head coach LaMonta Stone, who served as River Rouge’s coach for the two most recent state titles in 1998-99 while a child Jaafar watched along on TV, as well as the son of the biggest star from those teams, Brent Darby Jr., son of Brent Darby. Once he made those realizations, Jaafar knew he had come across a story almost too good to be true.

“I was like, ‘this is like a movie’,” Jaafar said. “At that point, I fell down a rabbit hole of research for the next couple of weeks and discovered the Lofton Greene era of the 50s, 60s and 70s that I had no clue about. At that point, I was completely immersed and hooked — it consumed me man, I couldn’t even sleep. That’s how it took off. I documented the whole season and I knew I had a documentary to be told.”

Jaafar came across two existing threads that connected the old and new of River Rouge basketball in Stone and Darby Jr, but told the entire story of the winningest program in state history, through personal accounts from players of every era. After introducing the current team at the start of the film and laying out the goal of a state championship, Jaafar jumps into why success is so ingrained in the town.

The documentary jumps back to tell the story of Lofton Greene, the head coach who led River Rouge for four decades and won 12 state championships — the most by a coach in state history. The history of Greene’s success was outlined by his former players who won state championships in the 60s and 70s and walking basketball encyclopedias like Tom Izzo, George Blaha and the Free Press’ Mick McCabe who explained his kindness, willingness to integrate the team during an era of segregation, and the lasting impact of his coaching and relationships on the rest of their lives while sitting in the old, rundown Frank “Buck” Weeber gym where the team played in the 20th century.

“I knew that the 90s teams were special, that’s what I knew,” Jaafar said. “I didn’t know about Lofton Greene. I didn’t know… it was basically “Remember the Titans”, just the basketball version of it.”

The 90s era of Rouge basketball was told through Stone’s journey to head coach and Brent Darby Sr., Darby Jr.’s dad who led River Rouge to both titles in the late 90s before playing collegiately at Ohio State. Darby Sr. died from a blood clot in 2011, but his legacy lives strong through his family members and former teammates, including his son, who shared his story in the documentary. The story could be told because Jaafar idolized Darby Sr. as a local hero while growing up and lived in the same Downriver neighborhood as Darby’s mom during high school.

“I think it was very tough to interview them, especially Zede (Darby Sr.’s mom) because I know she has never really talked about it and it was the first time anybody has tried to put it on camera. ... ” Jaafar said. “But I think when she realized I was coming from a genuine place and she realized her son was one of my heroes growing up, I think that helped a lot.”

The personal stories were woven into the story of the 2019-20 team, and the documentary puts them in full focus at the end. The season’s highlights are included in a montage interspersed with personal moments from the team, such as locker room dances, prom proposals and group prayers, culminating in what would be the final game of the season — a last-second win over defending state champion Southfield Christian.

River Rouge was the top team in the state entering playoffs, but COVID-19 ended the team’s state championship hopes. The season finishes in those painful meeting rooms in March 2020, when the players are told the dream is over this season.

“It was so gut-wrenching,” Jaafar said. “Because it wasn’t the goal. The goal was to capture the outcome of the state championship.”

The abrupt end made the documentary hard to pitch for the film team once they finished recording. Jaafar received Hollywood interest, including from HBO and John Legend as an executive producer, but the pandemic hampered any chances because the story lacked a concrete ending. In 2022, Jaafar connected with Razi Jafri, the movie’s executive producer, who helped secure a grant so they could edit and finish the documentary by sharing where the players and coaches involved were at in life by the end of 2023.

“I really love the ending, personally, because I think the climax, although it’s very sad, it’s also very real and authentic,” Jaafar said. “I think this story is about resilience and it being deeper than basketball and how this experience and program getting you to the next step in life and making you a better young man because of it.”

So, even though the world dealt a hand no one could predict when the cameras first started rolling, the project was a dream come true for Jaafar, a first-generation Lebanese-American who wants greater Muslim representation in filmmaking, while highlighting the power of his hometown.

“I’m just really proud that there’s a story from the Downriver area made by a Downriver guy telling a Downriver story,” Jaafar said. “I’m just incredibly proud of that.”

'Rouge' at Freep Film Festival

7 p.m. Wednesday, Detroit Film Theatre at the Detroit Institute of Arts (opening night)

After the film on Wednesday, Free Press sports columnist Shawn Windsor talks to Hamoody Jafaar, director and producer; Razi Jafri, producer; LaMonta Stone, Eastern Michigan director of basketball operations and former River Rouge boys basketball coach; EMU forward Legend Geeter, who starred at River Rouge; and George Blaha, longtime Detroit Pistons play-by-play announcer.

6 p.m. Friday, Michigan Science Center (IMAX)

After the film on Friday, Free Press assistant sports editor Andrew Birkle talks to Jaafar, Jafri, Stone and Geeter.

The film is also available to watch virtually during festival weekend.

Freep Film Festival will feature five days of documentaries with a resonance in or connection to Michigan. Go to freepfilmfestival.com for a full line up.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Freep Film Festival doc 'Rouge' details historic local basketball school