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00:00When I did my very first movie about 20 years ago,
00:04I got a call from a coach who was Navajo
00:07from the Navajo Reservation, Tuba City, Arizona.
00:10And he said, I've just seen your film.
00:12It was called A Hero for Daisy.
00:14I love it.
00:15I've got an amazing basketball team
00:18here on the Navajo Reservation, all teen girls.
00:21They are the best players in the country.
00:23I cannot get them recruited to Division I schools.
00:28What can you do?
00:30I had made one movie at that point
00:33and did not find the funding quickly.
00:36However, his words rattled in my head for years.
00:40So my partner on Bad River, Grant Hill,
00:44who owns the Atlanta Hawks, NBA great,
00:47we came out with a film, A Most Beautiful Thing,
00:49which was right after the murder of George Floyd.
00:52The film got a lot of attention.
00:54There was extraordinary activity.
00:56And I said to Grant, I think now is the time,
00:59there may be an interesting opportunity
01:01to amplify a Native story.
01:04And then I had a wild chance encounter
01:07with the chairman of the Bad River Band.
01:10And we began a series of conversations and he said,
01:13this was while COVID was full on by Zoom.
01:17And he said, why don't you come to the reservation
01:20and we'll do some canoe diplomacy.
01:22And I was like, I used to row, I was a rower.
01:25And I was like, I don't know what canoe diplomacy is,
01:28but I'm totally up for it.
01:31And thus began a journey that was life-changing
01:33in many ways.