Rising Through the Fray

*MICHIGAN PREMIERE // DIRECTOR IN ATTENDANCE*

RISING THROUGH THE FRAY

Uniting from across continents to bring representation to the sport they love, Indigenous Rising laces up their skates to claim their space on the roller derby track.

Indigenous Rising is the first team in roller derby history to break the barriers of representing a single country at the Roller Derby World Cup – igniting a movement that pulsates throughout the sport and within each other. Rising Through the Fray follows the team as it welcomes a new generation of players determined to change the face of roller derby—an inclusive, female-empowering sport still lacking diversity.

With a compassionate and candid lens, filmmaker Courtney Montour weaves energetic on-track game play with tender moments in teammates’ daily lives as skaters from over 30 Indigenous Nations navigate and learn each other’s play styles at tournaments and find strength within each other to compete and skate onto the track with pride.

Intimate portraits of teammates Sour Cherry, Krispy and Hawaiian Blaze reveal stories of displacement and disconnection from their culture and identities and the journey of finding belonging within team Indigenous Rising.

Rising Through the Fray offers a poignant exploration of resiliency, healing and reconnection of a roller derby family with a bond that goes beyond sport.

Hundreds of swimmers take on a once‑in‑a‑lifetime challenge in this documentary about the Mackinac Bridge Swim. Against the backdrop of one of the world’s longest suspension bridges, athletes plunge into the crystal‑clear Straits of Mackinac for a grueling 4.5‑mile open‑water crossing – an endurance test as breathtaking as it is brutal. At the heart of it all is organizer Eric Hansen, whose passion fuels the event. He hand‑crafts finisher medals out of reclaimed bridge steel and rallies support for first responders in St. Ignace and Mackinaw City. The Mackinac Bridge Swim represents much more than just an athletic feat.