An Indian-American competitor has won the prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee for the past 12 years straight, making the trend one of the longest in sports history. “Spelling the Dream” chronicles the ups and downs of four Indian-American students as they compete to realize their dream of winning the iconic tournament. With fascinating perspectives from CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Fareed Zakaria, comedian Hari Kondabolu, ESPN's Kevin Negandhi, 1999 Scripps National Spelling Bee winner, Nupur Lala, and others, the film explores the reasons behind this incredible winning streak and what it means for the community.
THE SPELLERS
The Interviews
the FILMMAKERS
Sam Rega | Director, Producer, Editor
Sam Rega is a filmmaker based in New York City. "Spelling the Dream" marks his third feature documentary. He directed the esports doc, "League of Millions," and the South Florida crime doc, "Miami Noir: The Arthur E. Teele Story." He edited feature documentaries for several years with rakontur, the studio behind the "Cocaine Cowboys" doc series. Sam's work has been featured on Netflix, VH1, ESPN, Amazon, iTunes, The New York Times, and Business Insider. He is a graduate of the University of Miami and a Knight Arts Challenge recipient. (View filmography)
Chris Weller | Producer
Chris Weller is a writer and editor based in Brooklyn, New York. His work has appeared in Strategy+Business, Quartz, Business Insider, The Atlantic, and Newsweek. He's been following the trend of Indian-American winners closely since 2015, having written profiles of top spellers and investigations into the trend. Currently, he serves as Lead Science Editor at the NeuroLeadership Institute. "Spelling the Dream" marks Chris’ filmmaking debut.
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