Mary Mazzio on How 'Rad River' Documentary Came to be and Canoe Diplomacy

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Transcript

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.