Following his death on Sunday, Kobe Bryant's studio (Granity Studio) has made Dear Basketball, the Oscar-winning short that was written and narrated by Bryant back in 2017, available online for free.
Variety adds that the five-minute and 22-second film can be found on dearbasketball.com, as well as on Vimeo.
The short, which won an Academy Award two years ago for "Best Animated Short Film," is based on a poem that Bryant wrote for The Players' Tribunein his final season in the NBA to announce that it would, in fact, be his last season in the NBA.
The film was animated and directed by Glen Keane (pictured with Bryant, above) and has a score composed by 52-time Academy Award nominee John Williams.
As its own website describes it, Dear Basketball:
[B]rings to life Kobe Bryant's 2015 farewell letter to the game he loves. With hand drawn animation set to a soaring musical score, "Dear Basketball", tells the inspiring story of one little boy living out his basketball dream.
“It’s a message for all of us,” said Keane while accepting the Oscar alongside Bryant in 2018. “It’s through passion and perseverance that the impossible is possible.”
Variety adds that the film became hard to locate following the Oscar win, with the Granity website and dearbasketball.com only offering teaser trailers.
On Sunday, Bryant died in a helicopter crash that also ended the lives of eight other people, including: his daughter Gianna, John, Keri, and Alyssa Altobelli, Payton and Sarah Chester, Christine Mauser, and Ara Zobayan.
