Big Apple basketball is back in a big way! The Knicks are in the NBA playoffs and are off to an impressive start. But last week, the real hoops action wasn’t at Madison Square Garden, but rather, a few blocks away here at the ADC Gallery.

The latest edition of BUTTER: A Night of Pop Culture and Popcorn – ADC’s monthly film screening series – brought dozens of ADC members and guests through our doors for an intimate screening of The Iran Job, a fascinating documentary about an American basketball journeyman whose career has taken him to the Iranian Super League.

The usual BUTTER staples of Fatboy® beanbag chairs, freshly popped popcorn and unlimited beer and wine were accompanied by a few mini-basketballs and hoop sets to get everybody in a sporting mood.

The Iran Job is the story of Kevin Sheppard, whose basketball abilities, while considerable, weren’t enough for the top-tiered NBA. Thus he moved around from league to league around the world, before settling into Shiraz, Iran.

The film explores the cultural differences he experiences there, as well as a burgeoning friendship with three Iranian women: sports physiotherapist Hilda, event planner Elaheh and administrator Laleh. These three women open Kevin’s eyes up to the realities — the joys, the frustrations, the amazing and the mundane — of life under the Iranian regime during the Green Movement and on the eve of the Arab Spring.

This was a particularly special BUTTER screening, as the evening was curated by creative director/filmmaker/ADC member Sharoz Makarechi, and featured a live Q&A with Till Schauder and Sara Nodjoumi, the film’s director and producer respectively. Through this Q&A, we learned of the difficulties of filming such a movie, as well as the fates of the film’s stars.

Guests were also treated to a sneak peek of One For All, the next documentary project by Schauder, featuring a look at the Jamaican National football team.

BUTTER has always been a fun evening here at the ADC, but the perfect blend of sports, politics and humanity made this particular evening an extra special treat.

Get your tickets for the next BUTTER: A Night of Pop Culture and Popcorn on Thursday, May 30th, 2013, where we’ll screen the official Tribeca selection Stand Clear of the Closing Doors.