William Gates, the subject of Steve James' genre-defining basketball documentary HOOP DREAMS, told a panel of filmmakers that attending this year's Full Frame Film Festival (his first, by his count, and just the fifth time he had watched the film) "reminded me of how I pursued the game of basketball-- I wanted to be the best at it."

Indeed, seated with Gates were among the best filmmakers in their league: Barbara Kopple (HARLAN COUNTY USA, FALLEN CHAMP), George Butler (PUMPING IRON, THE GOOD FIGHT) and Steve James (HOOP DREAMS), along with two promising new players in Arturo Cabanas (MAN UP) and Andrew Lang (SONS OF CUBA). James had organized the panel in culmination of this year's excellent sports film series, "This Sporting Life." But aside from the amount of talent gathered in close proximity on the Durham Arts Council stage, the truly remarkable event was Gates' recounting of the impact of being on the other end of the camera.

"He we are, 20 years later ... and I'm sitting here talking about HOOP DREAMS," Gates said. (The film was released in 1994, but began filming five years earlier.) "That's what documentaries do."

It wasn't always so easy: Gates said that after the film was released, his high school shunned him, his teammates "must have hated" him for the attention, and the NCAA revoked his and Arthur Agee's athletic scholarships for becoming "professionals."

"They said we were professional athletes because they thought HOOP DREAMS was going to make money," he said. "Imagine that: documentaries making money."

Now, Gates said, his high school uses HOOP DREAMS for recruiting, and though he never achieved NBA fame, he uses the film as "bragging rights around the house" to tell his son that he is in the upper echelon of athletes like Michael Jordan with films dedicated to them. Many NBA stars, in turn, cite the film as an early inspiration to pursue basketball. And, perhaps most important, Gates said that the film allowed him to "always have" the voice of his brother, who encouraged him to become a great player, and was killed in 2001.

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BURMA VJ--the story of underground reporters who risked their lives to capture video images of a military crackdown in Burma--cleaned up at this year's festival, picking up a total of three awards, including the Grand Jury Award. THE WAY WE GET BY, UNMISTAKEN CHILD, VOICES FROM EL-SAYED, LOVE ON DELIVERY and the shorts OIL BLUE and 12 NOTES DOWN also took home awards. The full list, including honorable mentions, after the jump.

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• Vogue creative director Grace Coddington, SEPTEMBER ISSUE director R.J. Cutler and Vogue editor-at-large Andre Leon Talley speak at a pre-show press conference.

I doubt Andre Leon Talley will take in a Durham Bulls game on future trips to the Triangle. One, the Bulls are seriously lacking in Louis Vuitton fan gear, and two, the larger than life editor-at-large of Vogue magazine took serious exception to SEPTEMBER ISSUE director R.J. Cutler's comparison of the magazine's superstar line-up of  fashion editors to the Babe Ruth-era of the New York Yankees.

ALT (who is fabulous enough to rate an acronym) cried out "Who are the Bronx Bombers?" and indignantly denied any similarities to that Hall of Fame team. After all, Vogue, and subsequently the SEPTEMBER ISSUE, is about stilettos and couture, not steroids and curve balls.

Talley, who took up tennis only for the fun of buying a Louis Vuitton tennis racket case, water bottle trunk and towel, wore a tan alligator coat and large black plastic aviator-style sunglasses to the screening, toting a bulging Louis Vuitton planner. He was joined by Vogue creative director Grace Coddington, whose shock of red hair matched her crimson nails and blinged-out cross necklace sparkled from across the room, to talk about the documentary. The film, which not even all of the Vogue editors have seen yet, follows Talley, Coddington, editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and the rest of her staff during the nine-month process it takes to execute the magazine's ad-heavy September issue.

Talley, a Durham native and N.C. Central University grad, said it was both exciting and unsettling to show the film in his hometown and at a theater he frequented as a boy. Growing up under the shadows of Jim Crow, ALT was relegated to the Carolina Theatre's balcony when he came to watch movies like DRACULA with his uncle. But despite his success, international connections and bittersweet memories, ALT said he visits the Bull City often, and he even hopes to move back and be "an old man sitting on his front porch."

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After the show, Cutler declared the Full Frame screening to be the best yet, noting the audience recognized the film's humor better than any other audience. But although Cutler may have logged the night's most understated sound bite ("Anna [Wintour] has opinions"), Talley was full of juicy insight on the infamous fashion editrix herself:

• "I don't think [Wintour] is scared of anyone but herself."
• Wintour invited Talley to her wedding--along with all of her ex-boyfriends--and even had him hold her bouquet.
• "[Wintour] has no time to suffer fools and be charming."