‘BISMACK’ OKC Thunder Documentary Premiere: Air Date Announced for Oklahoma TV

Sitting in a darkened movie theater in downtown Oklahoma City, veteran NBA center Bismack Biyombo watched scenes from his life flash by on the big screen. From his childhood in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to his arrival in the Sooner State just a few months earlier, the journey was poignant and emotional.

“When I came here, it was almost me really finding who Bismack was, like a new beginning. And there’s a lot of things that happened along the way, but even though we were deciding whether or not OKC was a destination, I knew something great was going to come out of it,” he said on a steamy Oklahoma summer night at the Harkins Bricktown 16 theater.

“Before I came here, I went to Memphis, and in Memphis, the way things happened was just God written all over it. When I went to Memphis, I went to Memphis to find God. And when I came here, I came to find Bismack. And it sounds funny, but honestly, it’s the truth.”

Biyombo, 31, signed with the OKC Thunder in February and is the subject of the 40-minute documentary “BISMACK,” which premiered in June during OKC’s 24th Annual deadCenter Film Festival.

The seventh OKCThunder Film to premiere at deadCenter, “BISMACK” will have its local television debut at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, July 13, on KWTV-9 in OKC and KOTV-6 in Tulsa.

“We’re proud of every player that comes into our organization. This is an example of the kind of players we bring in,” said Dan Mahoney, the OKC Thunder’s vice president of broadcasting and corporate communications.

“You watch players on the court, you admire them, you see their physical abilities. NBA players are some of the best athletes in the world. But everyone has a story. And Bismack’s story is inspiring.”

Growing up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo — one of the world’s poorest countries despite its wealth of natural resources — Biyombo had a dream to play in the NBA, even before he had basketball shoes to wear. His basketball journey as a teenager took him to multiple countries before he was drafted into the NBA in 2011.

As a 19-year-old rookie, Biyombo quickly realized he had a platform that could be used to provide opportunities for the Congo and its people, so he formed the Bismack Biyombo Foundation. His basketball camps have brought the love of the game to hundreds of young players, including several who have followed him into the NBA.

Biyombo has played with the Charlotte Bobcats (now the Hornets), Toronto Raptors, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns, and Memphis Grizzlies before coming to the Thunder. Throughout his NBA career, he has raised millions of dollars to build schools, sports facilities, and health care programs. He even donated his entire NBA salary one season to build a hospital in the Congo in honor of his father, who died of COVID.

“This was an emotional documentary for me. There’s a lot of things about my dad and my family, other people, that was said, and really reminded me of many things in life,” Bismack said. “Coming here, I was also reminded by my own teammates that you still gotta be kids and enjoy life a little bit. I think we take life too seriously. So, this documentary, it’s done a lot for me, and I’m just grateful to be able to share it.”

OKCThunder Films, a collaboration between the Thunder’s broadcasting and basketball communications departments, has premiered a new short film at the deadCenter Film Festival every year since 2018.

Previous films include “Mr. Thunder” (2018), “Growing Up George” (2019), “The Everyday Saint” (2020), “Pause the Game” (2021), “Seeds of Greenwood” (2022), and “Steps” (2023). Several have won regional Emmy Awards, and “Seeds of Greenwood” was screened at the White House and at South by Southwest’s Education Conference in Austin, Texas.

Matt Tumbleson, co-executive producer for OKCThunder Films along with Mahoney, said they were working on another project when Bismack joined the team.

“Shortly after acquiring Bis, Sam Presti, our executive vice president and general manager, hit me up and said, ‘Matt, do you know his story? His story has to be told,'” Tumbleson said.

“We sat down, and the first meeting we had, it was he and myself: two hours getting to know Bis — like really, really getting to know him. … You watch these films on these screens, it’s like ‘The Avengers’ and ‘Batman’ and ‘Superman’ — and this guy is a true superhero.”

Although the OKCThunder Films team was already working on another project, Mahoney said they quickly pivoted to pulling together “BISMACK” in just a few months so that they could debut it at the June film festival.

“Bismack was enthused for us to do it, and they have this treasure trove of footage from his going back to the Congo over a number of years,” Mahoney said.

“Access to Bismack, obviously, was very important, and he was 100% supportive of that. So, we spent a number of sessions with him. We flew to Phoenix with him, where he was doing a fundraiser for his foundation and reuniting with a lot of the kids that he’s helped in the Congo. … We spent March, April, and May gathering, editing, producing, obtaining all this footage, and it came together.”

Directed by Michael Zubach, segments of the film were created utilizing cutting-edge technology at Oklahoma City’s One Set Studio. This includes the use of One Set’s immersive 40-foot-wide curved LED wall as a virtual backdrop.

Although Bismack hasn’t been part of the OKC Thunder for long and didn’t get much playing time during the season, Mahoney said that didn’t diminish the team’s enthusiasm for telling his story.

“This is an incredible young man who’s given back to his country, who has a very fascinating journey of how he got to the NBA. And once he got there at the age of 19, in his rookie year, he formed a foundation to start doing these great things at home. People told him he was too young — ‘You can’t have a foundation doing these things where you’re only 19.’ Well, anybody who said that did not know Bismack, because he stuck with it. And he’s done great things ever since,” Mahoney said.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: New OKC Thunder documentary ‘BISMACK’ to debut on Oklahoma television: When to see it

Source: Oklahoman