Oaxacan Hoops is a 20-minute documentary that explores how basketball, one of the most revered sports in the United States, has helped many Zapotec indians living in Los Angeles build community, keep traditions alive and maintain a connection to their villages in Mexico.

The film opens in the mountains of the Sierra Norte, in the state of Oaxaca, where we find out how basketball became a cultural tradition for Zapotecs, the largest of 16 indigenous groups in the state and among Mexico’s shortest people.