BUFFALO, N.Y. — We are celebrating a Niagara Falls native who directed a documentary series that made it to Amazon Prime. It features several Western New York high school football teams.
Justin Gilmore played high school and college football and he is passionate about highlighting what's in store for the next generation.
"Went to school for sports administration. I played football for the University of Louisville. Originally after graduating, I thought I wanted to be an agent," says director Justin Gilmore.
So Gilmore worked with a lot of his teammates as they went pro, which included promoting their community service events, which led him to content creation.
"My mom's a hairdresser, always kind of been creative, so it's just another medium which led me to film," said Justin Gilmore.
In 2021, Gilmore started making the 11-part documentary series "Victory Formation" capturing the ups and downs of the Canisius High School football season.
"That staff specifically really took football seriously. Not so much just football, but they poured into the kids outside of football," said Justin Gilmore. "Coach Taylor who has paid for students to get extra help outside of school, whether it be a tutor or help them with cleats, all those things, people that, men that are selfless that care about the kids. So I wanted to highlight that, and they were playing at the high level."
Other local teams are featured, too. "Victory Formation" ended up getting picked up by Amazon Prime.
"Community is everything, and I feel like that's the main thing I think people will take away that we have a good community here and that we have really good athletes as well," said Justin Gilmore.
Since filming, Gilmore has kept in touch with a lot of the athletes as they move on to their next chapters.
"They have something that they can look at and have for the rest of their lives. Alex Manka at South Carolina doing some really cool things. All the kids are really doing something. That like really brought me a lot of joy, so I think, yeah, that's kind of, that's the most special thing was the kids and how much they poured into it," said Gilmore.
Gilmore wants to show everyone that there are strong football programs here in Western New York that compete on a national level and that the lessons athletes learn as they play football go beyond the game.
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