“Rez Ball” hopes to capture Indigenous experiences with its basketball drama

“Growing up on the reservation, I never really felt like I was reflected in film and television,” he said Sydney FreelandAuthor and director of “Rez Ball.”

The new Netflix film is a fictional account of a losing Navajo basketball team trying to win a state championship. NBA star LeBron James is the executive producer.

Freeland, who wrote for the hit Hulu series “Reservation dogs“said Basketball is a big sport on all reservations in the United States and Canada.

“I think the best comparison I can think of is high school football in West Texas. You know, the whole city is shutting down.”

Without professional or collegiate sports teams, college athletics becomes an important focal point for families and the community. Freeland said two teams of girls from the Navajo Nation traveled to the state of New Mexico during filming Championships – Selling out a university arena in Albuquerque.

This passion was evident when production on the film began – 5,000 people were looking for 10 roles for actors in their film.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Pamela McCall: What impact did the production of Rez Ball have on the Indigenous actors involved?

Sydney Freeland: These 10 players had to be able to act, they had to be able to act [basketball]. But more importantly, they came from the communities they portrayed. And so they were all actors for the first time. For many of them it was their first time ever on a film set. So from an acting perspective, they didn’t necessarily have that experience, but they did have the lived experience from Indigenous communities. It was just about encouraging them to access their own personal experiences.

PM: The story involves a tragic suicide that impacts the team. What was the trigger for this decision?

SF: At first there was a little hesitation, like, “Can we or should we talk about this?” But the more we talked about it, the more it felt like, “Well, if we’re a little hesitant, maybe this is something we need to be addressed and brought to the forefront.” It is something that affects many tribes in the US and Canada. Tribes still struggle with many Intergenerational traumaand there are different ways people try to deal with it. Unfortunately, it affects many Native American communities.

PM: The coach of the team in the film is a former WNBA player. How does their experience influence the dynamics of the film?

SF: One of the things that was particularly important to us was that we didn’t want an outsider to guide the children. That led to the creation of Coach Hobbs, who was also a player herself and also came from the community. Having her coach the boys had all of these positive consequences when the team faced adversity. For example, she’s not going to take them to the big city and to a good restaurant and, you know, teach them how to use them [a] Salad fork and so on and so forth. She will take them to her grandmother’s sheep camp, where she grew up herding sheep, and she will use it as a team-building exercise.

PM: How do Navajo traditions become part of the team’s journey from underdog to champion?

SF: The culture and tradition are somehow intertwined with life at home. I think one of the things we really wanted to show is that this is America, but it’s also not America. A funny example of this was actually when we were filming the national anthem. Originally the script just said: “The national anthem plays over the loudspeaker.”

And the day we were filming, one of our players came up to me and asked, “Who’s going to sing the national anthem?”

And I said, “Well, no, we’ll probably put something in post-production and add something after the fact.”

And he said, “Well, you know, I sing national anthems at high school games at home. And do you want me to sing?”

I thought, “Well, but can you do it?” I think I don’t need a warm-up and do it in about one or two takes.

“Yeah, sure. Should I sing in English or Navajo?”

I remember thinking, “Navajo is going to be great.” And so Jojo Jackson, our player, sang the Navajo anthem and smashed it in zero warmups. And that was actually such a happy coincidence. It was a great way to show the audience that this is America, but this is also not.