“When they took our gatherings away, what do we have? We have basketball,” says a player in Saints and Warriors. POV has the exclusive first look at the full trailer for Saints and Warriors ahead of the film’s release later this month. Directed by Patrick Shannon, Saints and Warriors tells the story of the All Native Basketball Tournament and its historic role in keeping culture and tradition alive among Indigenous communities.
The film follows the players of the Skidegate Saints as they prepare for the annual showdown on the courts. It’s a pivotal year for the Haida team as several of its top players, who are also community leaders, face the end of their basketball runs as age catches up with them. Winner of the Colin Low Award for Best Canadian Director at DOXA earlier this year and a top-five finalist in the Audience Award rankings at Hot Docs, Saints and Warriors is heading to theatres after inspiring audiences on the festival circuit.
“I was at the 2022-2023 championship and that was such a unique experience,” Shannon told POV earlier this year. “They came back against all odds against Burnaby to win the 2023 championship, but it was still a struggle. So, realizing that this might be one of the last years we get to follow this core legendary team because they’re all, if not in their forties or getting close to it, this felt like The Last Dance, Chicago Bulls-style for this team.”
Saints and Warriors is produced by Michael Tanko Gand, with executive producers Desmond Collinson, Gaagwiis Jason Alsop, Vinay Virmani, Patrick Shannon, Connor Ritchie and co-executive producer Hayley Morin. Saints and Warriors will be distributed by Game Theory Films in Canada.
The film is a Grand Scheme and InnoNative production, and co-venture with First Take Entertainment and Uninterrupted Canada, produced in association with Bell Media’s Crave, Canada Media Fund, Telefilm Canada, Creative BC, CrossCurrents Canada Doc Fund and Rogers Group of Funds. Saints and Warriors opens in select theatres and premieres on TVOD on November 28.
Watch the full trailer for Saints and Warriors below.
