BS High

This 2023 documentary, co-directed by Martin Desmond Roe and Travon Free, recounts a fraud in American high school football. In a game broadcast on ESPN in 2021, IMG Academy, one of the strongest programmes in the country, beat the unknown Bishop Sycamore fifty-eight to nothing; the reporting that followed revealed that the school did not actually exist. At the centre is the coach Roy Johnson, who describes himself as an honest liar and asks on camera whether he looks like a con artist. The documentary's most uncomfortable quality is the space given to his account: defending himself, the man describes his own offence. Testimony from players and their families shows how the dream of rising through football was exploited; the game produced serious injuries. Who it's for: viewers interested in American sports culture and documentaries about fraud. Who it's not for: anyone troubled by this much room being given to the perpetrator, or unfamiliar with the sporting context.