Chris Paul & RZA Added as Executive Producers on HANDLE WITH CARE

RTG Features, the sister studio to global basketball media leader SLAM, and Victory Creative Group announce that NBA All-Star Chris Paul and Wu-Tang Clan leader RZA have joined the upcoming documentary HANDLE WITH CARE: THE LEGEND OF THE NOTIC STREETBALL CREW as executive producers. Additionally, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luguentz Dort, two of Canada's brightest NBA stars, along with CJ Paul and Juanita Thompson of Ohh Dip!!! Productions, have come onboard as executive producers.

The film is winner of the True North Audience Award and the Best BC Film Award at the Vancouver International Film Festival last year and will have its U.S. Premiere at the Urbanworld Film Festival on Thursday, Oct. 27. Previously, the film was an official selection at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in May and is also an official selection at the upcoming Windsor International Film Festival and Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. CAA Media Finance is handling worldwide sales.

HANDLE WITH CARE chronicles the rise, fall and rebirth of The Notic, an upstart streetball collective from Canada in the early 2000s. While their creative basketball moves brought them global fame as teenagers, it set them at odds with the status quo in a battle involving self-expression, race and rejection. Driven by a twenty-year quest to finish their mixtape trilogy, the documentary charts how the group of friends from Vancouver played outside the confines of the NBA yet still left an indelible imprint on the game forever.

"Basketball is the backdrop of this documentary," says Chris Paul, "but the real story is how brotherhood can be created on the court and transform into a lifelong bond off the court."

"The untold story of these Canadian ballplayers, who were inspired by American streetball and became an inspiration to others, shows the power of persistence and dedication to a craft," says RZA. "Watching this group of young men from different backgrounds come together for a common cause to compete and achieve success is a story that resonates with me. How we handle ourselves and how we're handled by others in our goals determines the outcome. So handle with care."

The film was directed by Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux and Kirk Thomas, the original filmmakers behind the first two Notic mixtapes, and produced by Ryan Sidhoo, along with TELUS Originals, RTG Features and Victory Creative Group.

The film features Jermaine "Fresh" Foster, Rory "Disaster" Grace, Joey "King Handles" Haywood, Andrew "6 Fingaz" Liew, David "Dazzle" Mubanda, Jonathan "Johnny Blaze" Mubanda, Dauphin "Delight" Ngongo, Jamal "Whereyouat?" Parker and Mohammed "Goosebumps" Wenn.

Haywood was featured in the pages of SLAM 79 (June 2004) and The Notic in SLAM Presents Streetball Vol. 3 (June 2005).

RZA recently received a Primetime Emmy nomination in 2020 for "Wu-Tang: An American Saga," while Chris Paul received a Sports Emmy nomination in 2019 for the feature doc CROSSROADS, about the introduction of lacrosse to at-risk students in a Charlotte, North Carolina charter school.

Upcoming projects for Ohh Dip!!! Productions include 61, a biographical film based on Chris Paul's upcoming memoir, "Sixty-One: Life Lessons From Papa, On and Off the Court," currently in development for Disney+. The iconic point guard is also releasing "Basketball Dreams," his first children's book in January 2023.

RTG Features' slate includes the upcoming multi-part documentary series on legendary basketball coach John Thompson, from Peabody Award-winning director Kirk Fraser. Other projects include the recent documentary ALASKAN NETS, executive produced by Chris Pratt; the limited series PAU GASOL: IT'S ABOUT THE JOURNEY, on Prime Video; the narrative podcast series THE WORLD OF FIVE-STAR, chronicling THE UNTOLD STORY of the legendary basketball camp; and the Ja Morant docuseries PROMISELAND, currently streaming on Crackle. RTG's first feature doc, A KID FROM CONEY ISLAND, which follows the career of Stephon Marbury and was directed by recent Emmy Award nominees Coodie & Chike, is currently streaming on Netflix.

RTG, which stands for "Respect the Game," is a film and TV production and financing studio. With basketball storytelling as its priority, RTG focuses on original development, along with adapting articles from SLAM's 240-plus magazine issues into both scripted and unscripted multimedia projects ranging from feature films and television to documentaries and podcasts.

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