Women's tackle football pioneers subject of Freep Film Festival documentary

“The Herricanes,” a film that documents a team from the first women’s tackle football league in the 1970s, is set to make its Michigan premiere during the 11th annual Freep Film Festival on Friday at the Michigan Science Center.

The documentary captures the team’s journey through adversity on and off the gridiron. With insight from players, coaches and team management, director Olivia Kuan takes viewers to a time of change, when women’s sports were just beginning to grow in popularity.

“As a kid, I genuinely believed that everyone’s mom played football,” Kuan said in the beginning of her film. “I now know that to be untrue.”

Kuan, 38, remembers her mother’s stories about playing football from her childhood. It wasn’t until her late 20s when she discovered some of the struggles her mother and teammates faced during their time playing the male-dominated sport.

She would go on to pursue a career in filmmaking, but began to feel frustrated in her journey as she, too, faced challenges in a male-dominated industry. That's when she got the idea of creating a documentary about the team she heard about growing up.

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“I just felt that it was kind of reflecting on my own life and I found myself relating to the version of my mom that she was at in the 70s,” Kuan said.

Production for the documentary began in 2019, and took four years to complete after dealing with a two-year setback during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other challenges include a lack of archival footage, forcing the production team to rely on reenactments and dioramas to help illustrate the stories told in the film.

Throughout those four years, Kuan said the meaning of the film began to change as she learned the exact challenges the team faced and how teams today deal with the same issues.

“It kind of started out as just an homage, like an appreciation, just a respectful film about some incredible people who did incredible things,” Kuan said. “As the process went on and we started piecing together some of the more modern aspects of women's football, (I) started realizing that what was really happening is that we were telling the story of what happened in the 1970s through the lens of today. And that that lens was mine. So it became much more about what this meant … and we tried to weave together that answer throughout the making of the film.”

The documentary premiered at last year’s South by Southwest Film and TV festival in Austin. Kuan said she was terrified during the premiere, knowing that members of the team would be in attendance and seeing the final result for the first time.

“I did my best to be as respectful and true to how they wanted to be perceived as possible. But I was still nervous as hell,” she said.

The film received positive reviews from both the audience and the team as it received two awards that night. Kuan said members of the team are helping her as the film continues to make its rounds through the film festival circuit.

Herricanes linebacker Billie Cooper and center Jane Schulte will be on post-film panels to discuss the documentary during Friday and Saturday screenings at the Freep Film Festival. Cooper, 68, said she was initially leery about involvement in the documentary at first due to another team from the same league, the Oklahoma City Dolls, being misrepresented in another movie as girly-girls. 

“I was also worried that we were going to be depicted in the same way, and we were serious athletes,” Cooper said. “Olivia assured me that that wasn’t going to happen.”

Cooper recalls an emotional reaction from one of her friends who attended the premiere in Austin. She believes the audience in Detroit will share similar emotions.

“I really think that they will see the sincerity and the heart of the movie,” Cooper said.

Kuan hopes viewers enjoy the story of the trailblazers and walk away feeling inspired after seeing the film.

“You don’t have to want to play football, you don’t have to want to coach,” she said. “Maybe it’ll just tell you ‘Hey, this person did this so I can do this.’ Just open your mind to the possibility of what your future can be.”

Freep Film Festival

‘The Herricanes’ screenings:

7 p.m. Friday, April 12, Michigan Science Center (Toyota Engineering Theater)

Post-film panel: Desiré Vincent Levy, a member of the Women of the NFL, talks to Houston Herricanes linebacker Billie Cooper and center Jane Schulte, Joey Opfer of the Toledo Troopers and Detroit Venom running back Clarissa “Riss” Tullis.

1 p.m. Saturday, April 13, Michigan Science Center (IMAX)

Post-film panel: Cooper, Schulte, Tullis and Toni Harris, an NFL ambassador.

Also available to view virtually in Michigan.

Tickets available at freepfilmfestival.com.