UNM graduate’s documentary nominated for Sports Emmy

Fritz Bitsoie holds many titles – father, husband, Diné/Navajo filmmaker, cultural storyteller, and now, Emmy-nominated film director. In a few weeks, the University of New Mexico alumnus will attend the 46th Sports Emmys in New York City, hoping to take home a statue for his work on a short documentary. What begins as a portrait of a football team on a years-long losing streak becomes something far more resonant — a lyrical exploration of Native life, collective strength, and how a community rallies around something as fragile as hope.

“Through The Storm” follows the 2023 Red Lake Nation (Ojibwe) high school football team season. Despite dwindling interest and a two-decade-long losing record, a determined coach and group of young athletes fight to keep their football program alive. An exploration of overcoming loss, the film follows the personal triumphs and hardships of the players and their families, and how football symbolizes hope, unity, and resilience for the people of Red Lake. At the center of the film is a dedicated coach who continues to pour everything he has into keeping the team moving. Although it may seem like the kind of story that ends with a dramatic win, co-director Fritz Bitsoie says the ending is intentionally left open.

“Whether they win or not isn’t the point,” Bitsoie says. “This film is about how these kids show up for one another — about learning how to lose, cultivating gratitude, and learning to live with loss.”

Bitsoie co-directed the film with Charles Frank, co-founder of the production company Voyager, after Frank reached out in 2022. What started as an indie project gained momentum when East Coast production company Gnarly Bay joined, then shortly after, Nike’s N7 initiative gained interest in collaborating on the film.

In 2024, the crew spent most of the year on a successful festival run, showcasing their work at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Montana, Camden International Film Festival in Maine, and DOCNYC, among others. The film was even screened at Nike’s headquarters in Portland, Oregon, where the Red Lake Warriors were flown out for a football camp with international teams. By the end of the year, the documentary had its world broadcast premiere with GQ Sports and the NFL Network airing the piece in November.

Fritz at Field

“My bucket list was already fulfilled when the film premiered in Minnesota with the students and their families in the room,” Bitsoie says. “I just wanted them to watch it and feel proud — to see that where they come from, and who they are, is beautiful.”

The Gallup native began his higher education journey at UNM in 2003, taking some time off before returning to school in 2011 with a new sense of purpose. During that break, his love for cinema deepened. He recalls when the western thriller, “No Country for Old Men,” was filmed in northern New Mexico and the profound effect it had on him.

“It shifted everything — the way I looked at visual language, tone, and the weight a landscape could hold,” he says. “That’s when I knew I needed to study film seriously.”

Bitsoie credits his time at UNM’s Department of Film and Digital Arts with refining his storytelling and critical eye. “Dr. James Stone was my mentor. I learned so much from his film studies courses, which I was always excited to sign up for each semester. The focus on Horror films was a highlight for me,” he says. “Deborah Fort was also incredibly supportive of my work. I’ll never forget when she submitted one of my class documentary projects on my behalf to the NM Student Film Showcase in 2016 — and it ended up winning Best Short Doc[umentary]. That moment gave me the belief that I could actually do this.”

After graduating with his BA in Media Arts in 2016, Bitsoie moved to San Francisco, where he created an award-winning film that ignited his career. The film “Trails Before Us” is a documentary about a Navajo teen mountain biker as he hosts the first Enduro race in the Navajo Nation. Bitsoie says he wanted to explore a connection between mountain biking/horseback riding and what parallels can be found within.

“Anything I can do to celebrate the culture I come from — whether that means challenging assumptions about Native identity or telling culturally sensitive stories with honesty and care — that’s what I want to do,” Bitsoie said.

“The Trails Before Us” is featured on the film department’s website, showcasing successful UNM alumni.

This article was written by Alexa Skonieski and published on the UNM Newsroom website on May 12, 2025. Read the article from the UNM Newsroom >