Sidney Freeland to Helm Netflix Native American Basketball Pic “Rez Ball”

Sidney Freeland ranked her third film. deadline reports She will follow up on 2014’s “Drunktown’s Finest” and 2017’s “Deidra & Laney Rob a Train” with “Rez Ball,” a Netflix release billed as “Friday Night Lights Meet the Hoosiers.”

“Rez Ball” looks inside the “rough and joyous world” of reserved basketball “with its unique, fast, light tempo that is rumored to have influenced NBA teams and coaches over the years,” the source details. “It follows the Chuska Warriors, a Native American high school basketball team from Chuska, New Mexico who must band together after losing their star player, if they are to keep their quest for the state championship alive. It’s the story of all the underdog Americans about Navajo kids and coaches, It is told from the inside out.”

“Rez basketball is like high school football in West Texas. It has a die-hard following that few sports can rival,” Freeland explained. It’s a “common story in Indian reservations across the United States, but most people don’t even realize,” she asserted. its existence. What we want to do is bring people into our world, to tell a story about the people and places we know, and what better way to do that than through a sports movie? We want to tell an authentic story of the place and the people, told from the inside out. We are so excited with the team we’ve assembled and can’t wait to bring this to the screen.”

Freeland penned the script with Sterlin Harjo, co-author of “Reservation Dogs,” a new FX series focused on four Native teens in rural Oklahoma. Freeland directed multiple episodes of the comedy.

Deadline states that “production will take place in New Mexico, and will require filming on reserves, with the permission and support of the local sovereign tribal states.”

A member of the Navajo Nation, Freeland’s TV credits include “Rutherford Falls,” “P-Valley,” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” when We asked what advice you would give other female directorsShe urged, “Learn to accept rejection. You will be rejected more than you have been accepted. However, try to learn how to use it as an opportunity to improve your project.”