Rez Ball is a sports drama that follows a Native American basketball team from tragedy to inspiring success. Following a successful premiere in Toronto, the film recently debuted on Netflix and is a worthy entry to the canon of sports films. Director and co-writer Sydney Freeland crafted a story that not only deals with their lives on the court but an in-depth and informed view of life on a reservation in New Mexico—representing life there and dealing with the joys and many sorrows coming of age.
Capturing these images was no easy task and Freeland enlisted The 13th and Queen Sugar DP, Kira Kelly to capture realistic images that were informed by rich culture and embraced the warm beautiful atmosphere of their surroundings. Kelly is also an accomplished photographer whose work was recently on view at the Leica Gallery and she just wrapped work on the latest Monkey Paw Productions project entitled Him, which will be released next year. Kelly recently spoke to Immersive via Zoom.
[This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.]
How did you first get involved with the project?
It’s funny. I did a show years ago with Katie Elmore at Wise Entertainment and they reached out to me about Rez Ball. I met Sydney Freeland and it went well, I was hired and we went to Shiprock, New Mexico in the summer of 2021. Covid had hit the reservation and the production got pushed.
Then just two weeks later Sydney called and asked me if I was interested in doing Echo for Marvel with her and we worked together very well. Then Rez Ball came back. Then we were back in Shiprock, near where Sydney grew up and we ended up shooting at the places we had scouted together, so it all came full circle.
What kind of visual cues did Sydney give you for this film for the sports theme and life on the reservation?
I think we wanted to feel the excitement and the camera movement and all this stuff on the court but then also make sure that we’re dealing with suicide and alcoholism. Sydney had this reference from Zach Snyder’s 300… to be able to go in and have the three cameras, set up. We had the wide angle, the medium shot, and then, the close-up, and we rigged them all together.
Our amazing key grip, Rudy Covarrubias built us a plate that we were able to then have each of them on there and we had our camera operator, Justin Brown, operated all three cameras at once with three different focus pullers. So, basically it’s just about following the ball and then later imposing the effects then marrying those three images together. In really specific moments, when we wanted to draw out an elevate, the action, and that was one reference that she brought up.
Were there any particular scenes specifically that were challenging and did you have any favorite shots that you had in the film?
I feel like that’s one of the great things about Sydney’s script is that there are a lot of quiet moments that you get to have. She is the great balance that she and Sterlin Harjo struck between the action and the drama. There’s also a lot of comedy too; it’s played a lot funnier than I expected. I love the scenes with Gloria, the mom, and the fact that she never actually makes it to the game.
Oe of my favorite shots of the film, she’s pulled over and there is just a strip of light on her and you just feel sad for her. Then she’s in jail and they break out the radio for her.
I do love that setup. It’s one of those things where you just kind of turn off all the lights. It’s just like, how do you just focus the attention? It’s about her and this little radio. This one connection that she has with her son that he’ll never know, really how much she was there, and it does end up being one of my favorites.
The free throw scene was great as well. How’d you pull that off?
We had a fun time shooting Jimmy taking his free throws. We didn’t have the budget or the time to be able to light everything in the gym. We just used available lighting. We were shooting at this place called The Pit in Albuquerque, which is huge and they broadcast games there. There was enough light but in that case, how do we make this one piece about getting into his head? Let’s turn almost everything off and just play with this idea of creating this world like the spot.
What kind of equipment did you use in this film?
The Alexa 35, was my first movie with it, and I was so excited to be to shoot with it. I paired it with the Panavision C series which were just gorgeous Anamorphic lenses. I many different zoom lenses to capture all the basketball scenes.
What was it like seeing the final film at the TIFF premiere?
The feedback has been really great, I’m really excited for Sydney. I’m really excited for the cast. It’s been a really exciting ride to witness all of that. I’ve been excited the cinematography has been discussed in a nice way. I think it’s just one of those movies that I am just really proud to be a part of, it’s really something that, it just shows that people are hungry to see their stories told.
Rez Ball in now streaming at Netflix.
