Dan Deacon has scored a new sports drama about a team of basketball underdogs from a Native American reservation.
Rez Ball follows the Chuska Warriors, a high school team in Chuska, NM, looking to keep their dream of a state championship alive after the loss of their star player.
Inspired by Michael Powell's book Canyon Dreams: A Basketball Season on the Navajo Reservation, Rez Ball was directed by Sydney Freeland (Drunktown's Finest), who co-wrote the script with Reservation Dogs co-creator Sterlin Harjo. The film was produced by LeBron James.
"For us, this film is an invitation to see a side of America — a community — that [everyone] may not be familiar with," Freeland shared of Rez Ball in a statement. "But for myself, for these kids, for the cast, for the crew, this is something that we've lived and breathed our whole lives."
Deacon's involvement in the film is more proof that the artist knows ball. He previously scored the Adam Sandler-led Hustle for Netflix in 2022, while his other sports-related soundtrack outings include work on 2017 cycling documentary Time Trial and 2019 ESPN short Subject to Review, which centred on the rise of instant replay system Hawk-Eye in professional tennis.
Rez Ball will make its world premiere during TIFF 2024, ahead of arriving on Netflix on September 27. You can watch the film's trailer below.
Deacon's most recent solo album is 2020's Mystic Familiar.