As a gamer who’s spent countless hours immersed in diverse digital worlds, I can wholeheartedly appreciate the efforts of Sydney Freeland and Kaniehtiio Horn to bring authentic representation to the big screen. Their journeys resonate with me, not just as a lover of cinema, but as someone who’s spent countless virtual lives navigating through games that often lack diversity and proper representation.
Sydney Freeland aimed to portray authentic native lives during her extended process of creating a basketball-themed movie for Netflix, which was overseen by LeBron James.
Initially, it proved quite challenging to discover indigenous basketball players, as Freeland explained to the crowd at the Toronto Film Festival on Monday.
Netflix acquired the rights to the movie, prompting Freeland to exclaim, ‘It’s time to locate these individuals now.’ They must exist somewhere. They must exist somewhere,” Freeland recounted. Her determination for authentic representation stemmed in part from her personal experience as a Navajo trans woman, understanding the feeling of being omitted from both large and small screens.
From various under-represented groups, she’s accustomed to being portrayed incorrectly in movies and series, as she shared with the TIFF panel. Contrary to her initial concerns, it turned out to be less challenging to find Native American actors who could play basketball.
Talent exists, it’s just waiting to be discovered. We had a feeling there was talent out there. Our task was to uncover it,” Freeland explained. After sifting through 5,000 applications for only ten Indigenous athlete positions, she narrowed it down to 250 candidates and finally chose the top 32 contenders.
Freeland suggested that authentically portraying roles and telling culturally correct stories can be achieved by expanding your casting options. She posed the question, “Are we simply capturing lightning in a bottle repeatedly? If so, are we not just providing opportunities to those who hadn’t had the chance before?
On Mondays as well, the director Kaniehtiio Horn of Seeds shared her thoughts on casting actors from her indigenous community in her horror film, aiming to break free from decades of stereotypical portrayals in Hollywood productions.
Over the past two decades, there’s been a noticeable shift in how we are presented and regarded, observed Horn, who made her directorial debut following her success as the Deer Lady on FX’s Reservation Dogs and Tanis on Hulu’s Letterkenny, during TIFF.
As a young gamer, I realized that my chances of being cast as an Indigenous character were slim when I graduated from theater school at 19. But fate took a turn for the better when I was chosen for Jeff Barnaby’s 2007 short film, The Colony.
Horn remembered receiving an audition for a part described as ‘a dark, curvy indigenous woman who enters the stage.’ They were interested in me, so I tried out and received positive feedback from Barnaby, who said ‘yes, that was excellent.’ Ultimately, I landed the role. Horn and Freeland both believe that enhancing native representation on TV shows and films involves casting Indigenous actors for appropriate roles.
As a gamer, if I’m given an opportunity to play the role of a Cheyenne warrior from the 1600s, I’d say, “Hey everyone, I might not fit the physical description, but let me show you what I can do.” At the same time, it’s crucial that we keep striving for more Indigenous representation, both in front of and behind the cameras, as directors, producers, and storytellers.
In Freeland’s perspective, it wasn’t about having the usual city-dwelling white coach instructing a small-town basketball team, as portrayed by Gene Hackman in Hoosiers. Instead, they desired a coach who was deeply rooted within their community to better guide and support them.
Canadian Indigenous actress Jessica Matten was chosen for the role of the Warriors’ coach, with her character having come back home following a career in professional basketball. “We aimed to portray the story from within, and this established the overall atmosphere,” Freeland explained.
The Toronto Film Festival continues through Sept. 15.
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2024-09-09 21:25