Watch the film in Las Vegas on July 8th
"Rising Through the Fray" is currently showing at film festivals in the United States and Canada, and is now streaming in Canada on CBC Gem.
Our next in-person screening will be in Las Vegas, NV at RollerCon 2026. This is a FREE community screening that will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Courtney Montour and Indigenous Rising teammates Hawaiian Blaze, Krispy and Sour Cherry.
Doors open at 4:30pm, concessions and drinks available for purchase. Admission is free, but space is limited. Proof of ticket required at the door. Please get your ticket at the button below.
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 set on changing the face of roller derby – a sport that champions female empowerment and inclusivity but lacks 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.
Writer & Director: Courtney Montour
Producer: Nish Media
Distributor: 7th Screen
Courtney Montour
Courtney Montour is a Kanien’kehá:ka writer and director from Kahnawà:ke whose award-winning documentaries include Mary Two-Axe Earley: I Am Indian Again (NFB ‘21). Courtney was named Playback’s 2024 TV Directors of the Year, alongside Tanya Talaga, for their CBC doc series The Knowing (TIFF ’24), adapted from Talaga’s book of the same name. The duo was awarded Best Writing, Documentary for the series at the 2025 Canadian Screen Awards. Rising Through the Fray, produced by Nish Media in association with CBC documentary Channel, is Courtney’s debut feature.
Nish Media
A prize-winning Indigenous owned production house with over fifteen years experience. Their goal is to support Indigenous multimedia professionals in creating unique and captivating content for any platform.
7th Screen
7th Screen is a new Quebec-based Indigenous distribution company for independent films made for theatrical, home video, and or broadcast wanting to showcase their work in Canada and around the world. Ranging from fiction films to documentaries, the 7th Screen team will handle sales, promotional campaigns and release strategies.