NYWIFT is proud to co-present with The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian an in-person screening of Rez Ball!
Join us in honor of Women’s History Month as we celebrate Navajo filmmaker Sydney Freeland’s achievements in film.
Date: Saturday, March 15, 2025
Time: 1-3pm ET
Location: Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (1 Bowling Green New York, NY 10004), Level 1: Diker Pavilion
Cost: Free
*No reserved seating. Seating is first come, first served.
About the Film
Courtesy of Netflix
The Chuska Warriors, a Native American high school basketball team from New Mexico, must band together after losing their star player if they want to keep their quest for a state championship alive.
Runtime: 111 minutes, followed by Q&A with director Sydney Freeland
Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
Sydney Freeland is an award winning LGBTQ Navajo filmmaker. Sydney directed and co-wrote Rez Ball for Netflix which was produced by Springhill and Wise Entertainment, and premiered at TIFF 2024. She also directed the pilot and majority of episodes of the Marvel Studios series Echo for Hulu/Disney+. Sydney also served as a staff writer on the first season of Reservation Dogs, which was created by Taika Waititi and Sterlin Harjo. Sydney’s other television directing credits include Star Trek: Strange New Worlds for Paramount; Rutherford Falls for Peacock; The Wilds for Amazon; The Walking Dead: World Beyond for AMC; Fear the Walking Dead for AMC; Chambers for Netflix; Nancy Drew for the CW; Emergence for ABC; Tales of the City for Netflix; Impulse for YouTube Red; Heathers for the Paramount Network; P-Valley for Starz; three episodes of Grey’s Anatomy for ABC; an episode of Station 19 for ABC; and she directed every episode of the 2016 Emmy nominated web-series, Her Story.
(Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
Kim Jackson (Moderator) is a celebrated producer and creative as well as a pioneer in entertainment blockchain funding, development, and rights management. She is co-founder of the entertainment studio Evotion Media and has been active on several boards, including the ACE Programs for the Homeless, and The Gwen Ifill College of Media, Arts, and Humanities at Simmons University. Jackson began her career working with Disney/Touchstone Television in Los Angeles and then relocated to her first love, New York City, where she founded Streetwise Pictures. Through Streetwise she provided production services and investor relations for numerous theatrical and streaming feature projects. Her work has received Gotham, Spirit, and NAACP Award nominations as well as the Grand Prize at the Deauville Film Festival. One of the films Jackson produced was selected for opening night at New Directors/New Films at MoMA. Her films have been featured in competition at Rotterdam, Sundance, and Cannes. Jackson is a member of the PGA and Producers Union and is proud to serve as the Chair of the Board of Directors for New York Women in Film & Television.
Co-presented with:
Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian
1 Bowling Green, New York, NY 10004
programs@nywift.org
Join the conversation on social media:
#nywift | @nywift
NYWIFT programs, screenings and events are supported, in part, by grants from New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
