Indianapolis International Film Festival 2009

One woman's secret to winning at life is to "act as if, which transforms her from a feisty blue collar Boston kid into the championship basketball coach at Harvard where she masterminds one of the greatest victories of all time and overcomes cancer using the power of positive thinking. ACT AS IF is the story of Kathy Delaney-Smith, a diminutive jester-who-became-queen. "She's from another planet. That woman, she's wild," says her assistant coach shaking her head, "She asked our Director of Operations if she got any' last weekend." Kathy's homegrown affability beguiles a 27-year reign as the winningest coach in the league and the biggest upset in men's or women's NCAA playoff history in 1998. She picked up the whistle forty years ago as a favor to a friend, clueless but determined to do a good job faking it just as Title IX passed.The mantra she lives by becomes the cornerstone of her coaching methodology. Like Kathy, the girls must never act tired, or hurt, or nervous, which is a particular challenge for her star player. ACT AS IF lays bare the contradictions between public and private selves and exposes the immense fragility of perfectionists. The film is not about patronizing whimsy, game winning shots, or "giving it your all" cliches. Instead, the curtain is pulled back to reveal an irreverent and accidental philosopher who teaches a tribe of women that the way to win”at everything”is by convincing your mind that you already have.