(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) – MASS MoCA’s Thursday night Cinema Lounge series kicks off on Thursday, January 24, 2013, at 7:30 p.m. with The Other Dream Team, which follows the remarkable journey of the members of the Lithuanian basketball team from their oppression under Soviet rule to their triumphant emergence as liberators. Nominated for Best Documentary at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, the movie – which recounts the team’s unique partnership with the Grateful Dead, which supported and sponsored their efforts, and their celebrated 1992 Olympics triumph — kicks off the Cinema Lounge series titled “Compete!”, which features five films about winning, losing, and how you play the game.

During the USSR’s occupation of their homeland, Lithuanian basketball stars Sarunas Marciulionis and Arvydas Sabonis were forced to play for the Soviet Union team at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. They became poster children for their oppressor’s sports machine when they took gold, leading the USSR to victory over the USA. Four years later, after the fall of the Soviet Union, they returned to the Olympics – this time in Barcelona – as members of the newly independent Lithuanian team. When they defeated the Russian basketball team and took home a bronze medal, Marciulionis and Sabonis became symbols of democracy and their country’s triumph over the brutality of Communism.

The Other Dream Team and all the films in “Compete!”, will be screened in MASS MoCA’s Club B-10 on the third floor, an intimate, casual venue where drinks from the MASS MoCA bar, as well as snacks from Lickety Split, are available before and during the screenings.  The screening will be followed by question and answer sessions with the filmmaker.

The Other Dream Team screens on Thursday, January 24, at 7:30 PM. Tickets are $9 for adults or $5 for students.  MASS MoCA members receive a 10% discount. Tickets are available through the MASS MoCA Box Office, located off Marshall Street in North Adams, from 11 AM until 5 PM (closed Tuesdays). Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 during Box Office hours or purchased online at MASS MoCA.