Rising Through the Fray
Roller derby built its identity on the outsider. Indigenous Rising is what it looks like when over 30 Indigenous Nations lace up together, skate onto the track under their own banner, and refuse to be invisible.
Director Courtney Montour scheduled to attend.
Tickets
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Saturday, May 16, 2026
- Limited Availability
- On Standby
- Matinee
Sunday, May 17, 2026
- Limited Availability
- On Standby
- Matinee
Roller derby built its identity on the outsider. In the sport's drive for inclusion, it long struggled to actually be diverse. Indigenous Rising set out to close that gap, becoming the first team in the sport's history to compete at the Roller Derby World Cup representing not one country but over 30 Indigenous Nations.
Filmmaker and 4th World Media Lab alum Courtney Montour (Mohawk) earns her access and uses it well, moving between the velocity of tournament play and the quieter rhythms of her subjects' lives off skates. Sour Cherry, Krispy, and Hawaiian Blaze each carry histories of displacement and disconnection from their cultures and identities, and each finds within this team something that functions less like a roster and more like a homecoming.
Composer Justin Delorme (Red River Métis) scores with warmth rather than pump-up adrenaline, matching the film's own instinct to linger where other documentaries would cut away. Rising Through the Fray is about a sport, sure, but it's really about what it means to skate onto a track under your own banner and refuse to be invisible. Some stories take a while to get their moment. This one was worth the wait.
—Becky Rice
- Director: Courtney Montour (Kanien'kehá:ka)
- Country: Canada (Quebec)
- Year: 2025
- Running Time: 88 min.
- Producer: Jason Brennan
- Screenplay: Courtney Montour
- Cinematographers: Kristen Brown
- Editors: Catherine Leguault
- Music: Justin Delorme
- Website: Official Film Website
- Awards: image+nation Film Festival 2025 (Audience Award for Best Documentary)
- Filmography: Debut Feature Film
- Language: English