When I began working on this film, I could have never imagined the great struggles and joys or the incredible highs and lows that would lie ahead.
The project started when I heard a story about a Somali teenager who refused to join the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab and paid for it with a public amputation in the national soccer stadium. Michelle Shephard’s work on this story galvanized the Somali diaspora in Canada and their efforts helped him find refuge in Norway. I couldn’t shake his story or the realization that this was possibly the same stadium American forces ran to in the film adaptation of the bestselling book Black Hawk Down. Mogadishu Stadium was the former home of Somalia’s beloved national soccer team and today it is a war-ravaged symbol of a nation long considered the most hostile and failed state in the world. I wanted to make a film about the young men without the guns, the young men who’ve known nothing but war but dream of peace and playing soccer on their own soil.
In the summer of 2013, I met the president of the Somali Football Federation in Tahiti for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. Two months later, I traveled to Nairobi with co-producer/editor Brian Bellinkoff to meet the Somali national team while they competed in the oldest tournament in Central and East Africa. As I started to get to know the players, I was struck by their personal stories of terror, stories that sounded more like nightmares masked by positivity and love for their country.
The first night we handed out a questionnaire. That’s the night we met Saadiq. He asked if his friend could just talk to us about his story. I’ll never forget the beads of sweat dripping from Sa’ad’s head as he described being arrested by Al-Shabab for listening to music. After the first match ended, we knew we wanted to build the film around Saadiq and Sa’ad. At the time, I couldn’t foresee just how difficult it would be to capture their stories. Saadiq lived in a complicated Nairobi neighborhood, Sa’ad lived in Mogadishu, outside of the green zone, and the Somali football archives were completely destroyed in 2010.
I sent Sa’ad a tablet, and Saadiq borrowed an iPad to make video diaries. Together we worked through busted phone connections and spotty internet to connect over Facebook, WhatsApp and Skype before I made the trip to Mogadishu. In late August 2014, Saadiq came to America, and we suddenly had unlimited access to him on safe ground. We continued our story with Sa’ad through broken-up calls and difficult shoots in Mogadishu and Afgoye.
My hope for the film is that it provides a window into the lives of the Somali people, the struggles they face in a field of terror and the bravery that two young men command in demanding a better future for themselves. I am humbled by the trust they placed in me and the opportunity to call them my friends, my family. At the end of a long journey together, we all gained something we never expected.
This film is a survival story, a human rights story and a rare sports journey principally shot and produced in Kenya, Somalia and the United States. The story is about two friends, Saadiq and Sa’ad, who both live in Somalia, bound by a shared dream to inspire their fellow countrymen through their sport, soccer.
Saadiq and Sa’ad played in the Sumalian National Team, but they were always dreaming to one day play on a major team in Europe or in America. What happened was quite miraculous.
Saadiq made it to America, legally, and was named to the 2016 A10 all-rookie team for his play in his freshman season at St. Louis University. He was also awarded the Jack Buck Amateur Athlete Award by the Missouri Athletic Club. Prior to SLU, he played for FC Dallas Academy in Frisco, Texas, during the 2014-15 season.
Sa’ad, Saadiq’s friend, played for Elman FC (Kenya) until 2015. He twice earned top scorer in the league and won the Super Cup Championship in 2013. Sa’ad entered the US Refugee Resettlement program in 2015 and entered the US finally in 2016 where he reunited with Saadiq. He hopes to pursue a professional career.
Bienvenido a la Muestra de Documentales de Scientology Network.
Lo fundamental de Scientology es una misión humanitaria de extraordinario alcance, ahora extendiéndose a más de 200 naciones. En ella se incluyen programas para los derechos humanos, decencia, alfabetización, moralidad, prevención de drogas y alivio en la catástrofe.
Por esta razón, Scientology Network proporciona una plataforma para cineastas independientes que adoptan una visión de construir un mundo mejor.
