Five native youth athletes are using their platforms to re-ignite a cultural renaissance.
For over 400 years, America tried to extinguish the flames of native culture, banning and punishing their language, religion, dress, and traditions. Now, five native youth athletes are using their platforms to re-ignite a cultural renaissance—spreading pride and awareness of their people across the country and beyond.
Centuries of death, relocation and cultural erasure has decimated the native sense of self. Taught to hate all things culturally indigenous in boarding schools and then sent back to reservation—generations of Native Americans suffered from negative self image, succumbing to the effects of substance abuse, depression and self harm. However during the darkest of times, sports became a way for native kids to excel and feel pride in a manner congruent to their traditional identity.
Like warriors of old, sports megastars like Jim Thorpe or Olympic gold medalist Billy Mills rose to the world’s highest stages—giving a platform and recognition to American Indians that was otherwise absent. Now as America begins to contend with its legacy of cultural erasure and genocide, five youth athletes are for the first time ever forging a path that healthily celebrates their whole identities—not just as warriors on the court—but as proud natives off of it. Our film celebrates these individuals, not only surviving but thriving on their original lands. They are: The Undefeated.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
Kamran Rosen is an Iranian and Korean-American filmmaker and writer with a deep desire to tell intergenerational stories of cultural resilience. As a writer and filmmaker, Kamran has told stories of formerly incarcerated persons, with his animation Stages of Lost Freedom winning best short documentary at the Boston Film Festival and the Berlin Shorts Festival. It was during this work that Kamran realized his storytelling passion lay with returning narrative agency to individuals who had it taken away from them. He hopes The Undefeated will spotlight the power of identity in reversing systemic issues that often get misdiagnosed.
Ivan MacDonald is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and an enrolled member of the Blackfeet tribe. Ivan began his career in social work before transitioning to film production and directing, beginning with his ESPN short Blackfeet Boxing. His most recent project, Bring Them Home was executive produced and narrated by Oscar-nominated actress Lily Gladstone and won the Big Sky Award at the 2024 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. Ivan was an inaugural fellow for the Netflix and Illuminative Producers fellowship and was an inaugural recipient of the Hulu and Firelight Kindling fund. His work has also been supported by Sundance, ITVS, and IDA.
Follow the filmmakers and the film on Instagram – Kamran Rosen @kamranranjoon | Ivan MacDonald @willowbranch54 | the film @theundefeatedfilm
