Premieres Monday, March 24, 2025 at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV / PBS app
“Home Court” traces the ascent of Cambodian American teenager Ashley Chea, a basketball prodigy whose life intensifies amid college recruitment, injury, and triumph. Filmed over three years of Ashley’s high school career, the film is a coming-of-age story that relays the highs and lows of her immigrant family, surmounting racial and class differences, and personal trials that include a devastating knee injury.
The film opens in Ashley’s sophomore year of high school. She shuttles between her home in a lower-income neighborhood in Los Angeles and her private school, Flintridge Prep, while traveling to youth basketball tournaments and visiting colleges around the country. Ashley’s parents work long hours at their donut shop, so her coach, Jayme Kiyomura Chan, steps in where they cannot.
Filmmaker Quote:
“‘Home Court’ is a universal American story of assimilation, perseverance, prejudice, and success,” said filmmaker Erica Tanamachi. “My hope is that all people can see themselves on screen in some way and feel empathy, sadness, joy, and triumph—and after watching the film, feel a little more at ease knowing they are not alone—for we are more similar than we are different.”
With the pressure of being one of the top basketball recruits in the country, tensions rise as Ashley navigates college offers and her family’s input.
Meanwhile, she grapples with the task of leading her high school team, as well as being a leader in her community and the mounting responsibility to represent her culture. The film culminates in the bittersweet moments of Ashley leaving for college with her family.
According to reports by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports, 0.7% of student-athletes playing NCAA women’s basketball from 2012-2022 were Asian. At the professional level, there were three players of Asian descent in the WNBA in the 2022 season, and fewer in all previous seasons since the league’s inception in 1996. Newly-founded WNBA team The Golden State Valkyries hired the league’s first Asian American Head Coach, Natalie Nakase, for the 2025 season.
Watch On Your Schedule: “Home Court” will be available to stream on the PBS app.
Credits: Co-produced by the Center for Asian American Media and received Open Call funding from ITVS.
