Beyond Banners

ABOUT THE FILM

Beyond Banners™ follows the 60-year legacy of Gwynn Park basketball in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and the father-son coaching lineage of Howard and Steve Matthews.

Told by filmmaker and former player Andre Jackson, the film explores how a public-school basketball program became a source of community pride, identity, and opportunity for generations.

As transfers, recruiting, and exposure culture reshape high school sports, Beyond Banners asks what becomes of a legacy built by and for a community when a new era begins to replace it.

CREATIVE TEAM

The Beyond Banners™ team brings experience from Amazon and Netflix productions.

Andre Jackson — Director / Writer / Producer
Brings industry storytelling leadership and a personal connection to Beyond Banners™.

Rashea McCall Jackson — Executive Producer
Guides market positioning, strategic partnerships, and distribution strategy.

Sue O’Hora — Producer
Credits include When Wire Was King.

Daniel Bowie — Editor / Producer / Second Unit Cinematographer
Credits include Basketball County: In the Water.

Everett Ray — Director of Photography
Brings bold, emotionally grounded cinematography.

Henry Gretzinger — Animator / Motion Designer
Credits include The Last Dance.

Jeremy Zunk — Sound Mixer
Work featured on HBO and PBS.

Barrinton Baynes — Digital Curator
Specializes in archival preservation and historical materials.

FEATURED VOICES

Tubby Smith

Randolph Childress

Dr. Ida E. Jones

Man seated in a chair while a woman holds a film slate in a cozy room.

Hall of fame coach links Gwynn Park’s past dominance to the modern landscape.

Dr. Ida E. Jones

Randolph Childress

Dr. Ida E. Jones

A smiling woman sits in a library surrounded by bookshelves.

A historian who frames Gwynn Park’s rise through community, race, and integration dynamics.

Randolph Childress

Man sitting on a chair on a basketball court at Wake Forest University.

College basketball legend shares how one coach helped guide his path to the NBA.

Neil Greenberger

Randolph Childress

An elderly man sits on a chair in a peaceful outdoor courtyard with wooden rocking chairs.

Washington Post sports editor reviews Gwynn Park’s historic rise.

Lou Wilson

Neil Greenberger

Lou Wilson

Man in blue sweatshirt sits as clapperboard is held in front of him on basketball court.

A prominent high school coach illuminates Gwynn Park’s defining rivalry.

Championship Banners

Tim Carney (1968), Larry Gandee (1969, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1980), Owen Johnson Jr. (1983), and George Leftwich (1987, 1988).

Larry Gandee

Coach Gandee led Gwynn Park to eight state championship games. His leadership and success helped shaped the program and its winning tradition.

Howard Matthews

For more than three decades, Howard shaped generations of young student-athletes at Gwynn Park and built the feeder system that fueled the school’s rise.

Steve Matthews

Howard Matthews

Howard’s youngest son, Steve, took on his father’s mission—and elevated Gwynn Park to unprecedented heights.

A smiling couple posing on a basketball court with yellow and black bleachers.

I LIVED THIS STORY…

Beyond Banners is a deeply personal film for me because I did not come to this story as an outsider. I lived it. I played for Steve Matthews and was shaped by the Gwynn Park community.

I made this film to honor that legacy, and to explore what it takes to sustain it in a new era of high school sports.

In telling this story, I wanted to examine not just the tradition itself, but the responsibility of preserving it when the cultural and community foundations that built it are no longer as certain as they once were.

LOGLINE

We bled black and gold, not red

GALLERY

IMPACT