Roller derby doc ready to roll

Eight years ago, Kahnawa’kehró:non Courtney Montour was flipping through the pages of The Eastern Door when a headline caught her eye: “Indigenous derby crew ready to roll overseas.”

There, she read about how an all-Indigenous roller derby squad was lacing up for the Roller Derby World Cup, set to take place in Manchester, England. The group would be heading out the following year with a roster of 20 Onwehón:we women, including Kahnawake’s own Michelle “Squarrior” Cross, and instead of competing under any country’s flag, they’d be competing as “Team Indigenous.”

Team Indigenous didn’t win the gold, but they did make history by flying their own flag, and Montour was taking notes.

Now, seven years on, she’s ready to share her newest documentary, Rising Through the Fray, which follows Indigenous Rising Roller Derby, the now beloved all-Indigenous roller derby team made up of skaters from over 30 nations across Turtle Island.

“It’s an honour to get to have these experiences and be welcomed into their very intimate team circle, I think it really helps deepen the understanding for the audience of the importance of this team and their stories of displacement and reconnection that go beyond sports,” Montour said. “This team is creating a space that’s really beyond the sport itself.”

As part of the 28th Montreal International Documentary Film Festival, Rising Through the Fray will be screened at the Cineplex Odeon Quartier Latin on November 21 at 8:15 p.m. and Cinema du Parc on November 23 at 1:15 p.m., with both screenings followed by a Q&A with Montour and Sherry Bontkes, also known as Sour Cherry, one of the main subjects of the documentary.

It’ll also be making waves at the 38th edition of image+nation film festival next Saturday, November 29, at 4 p.m. in the Alanis Obomsawin Theatre at the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) in Montreal. A free panel conversation with Montour, cinematographer Kristen Brown, and editor Catherine Legault will also take place before the screening at 3 p.m. in Espace ONF, also in the NFB building.

“In sharing it we get to bring recognition to the amazing, groundbreaking work that Indigenous Rising Roller Derby is doing by carving out a place for people to reconnect and be seen for who they are,” Montour said. “So much of the people who collaborated on this film, the crew, everybody in post-production, they’re all in Montreal, so it’s almost like a homecoming screening.”

This weekend will be the first time that Bontkes, who is from the Saulteaux First Nation, will see her full story on screen. She hopes that the documentary will encourage more Indigenous skaters to get involved in Indigenous Rising.

“It’s absolutely incredible that they’ll now have an opportunity to partake in something even bigger and they’re able to be a part of our team in the future,” she said. “We are Indigenous, and we are rising.”

Bontkes is one of the veterans on the team - she remembers the early days of her roller derby career, hustling and driving cabs to pay for rink rentals. To now be one of the protagonists of a feature-length documentary is a surreal experience, she said.

“It’s been quite a ride watching the development and seeing so many Indigenous skaters come up through the ranks. Being involved at the ground level originally and seeing how many people said, ‘I want to be on that team, I wish I was a part of it but am I Indigenous enough?’” she said.

“People found out their histories and where they come from, and all of our stories parallel. It’s been an incredible journey for a lot of us, and for me, I really found my identity.”

Tickets for the upcoming screenings are available online at ridm.ca (November 21 and 23) and image-nation.org (November 29).

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