December 2011
1 post
International Sport Film Festival - Palermo
Another month and another festival. This time we’ve been accepted into the 33rd International Sport Film Festival in Palermo, Italy. More than that, we’ve also been nominated for 4 different awards: Best Picture, Best Foreign Film, Best Editing and Best Sound Mix! A mighty haul by any standards!
Congratulations to all of the team for some well deserved recognition. Producer Sam...
November 2011
1 post
October 2011
5 posts
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Al Jazeera and shifting time slots...
So, it turns out that in fact Soka Afrika, due to the unfolding nature of the news, has been shifted on the Al Jazeera schedule. The film will no longer be showing tonight on Al Jazeera English, but in fact on 30th November 2011.
Apologies for the confusion, but we’ll be coming to a screen near you sooner than you think!
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Next festival & Soka Afrika on TV!
Next on our agenda of festivals is the superb MiradasDoc Festival in Tenerife, Spain. It takes place between 28th October and 5th November 2011 and we’ve been officially selected there. Which is nice.
Furthermore, and this is where things get exciting, Al Jazeera Eng have decided to take a break from covering the Arab spring so excellently and are showing Soka Afrika, the 58 minute...
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Think Africa Press article
Another day and another lovely piece about Soka Afrika and African football : http://thinkafricapress.com/culture/untold-story-soka-africa
Lagun Akinloye gets into some detail on the issues lying at the heart of the malaise in African football. Especially poignant I feel are his anecdotes about the lack of crowd attendance at what were once fierce local derbies in Nigeria. People would rather...
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#RDFF & Inamo St. James
Wow, the bonus features on this Raindance screening on Sunday just keep getting better…
Not only do we have former Cameroon international, anti-trafficking campaigner and founder of NGO Culture Foot Solidaire coming for Sunday’s matinee at the Apollo Cinema, but we’ve also lined up a very special lunch deal with the excellent restaurant Inamo St James!
This innovative...
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Raindance next... #RDFF
After the success of Soka Afrika at the Kicking & Screening festival, it’s now the turn of the feature-length film to shine at 2011’s Raindance Film Festival. Not only will the full 76 minute version be playing in the excellent surroundings of the Apollo Cinema in London’s Piccadilly Circus, but, as a bonus, founder of NGO Culture Foot Solidaire - Jean Claude Mbvoumin - will be there to...
September 2011
3 posts
Kicking & Screening London - Tonight!
We’re massively looking forward to our International premiere of the 58 minute version of Soka Afrika tonight at the Kicking & Screening Football Film Festival. This is a version that is so far unscreened anywhere so it’ll be interesting to see what people think - here’s a review on ESPN Soccernet about what they think about the feature length film - Read Review
So, if...
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Jean Claude coming to Raindance
As a bonus to our Raindance UK premiere on 9th October (see previous post) we have the pleasure of announcing that Soka Afrika star and founder of NGO Foot Solidaire, Jean Claude Mbvoumin, will be attending the screening and closing night gala of the festival. The former Cameroon international is coming to London especially for the event and apart from being the world’s leading expert on the...
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Festivals and more
So, following a long summer absence, Soka Afrika returns with a couple of different festivals, first in London and later in Spain, Russia and beyond…
First up is the Kicking & Screening Soccer Film Festival, which has its inaugural London edition opening this Friday, 23rd September with “Once in a Lifetime” – the story of the rise and fall of the New York Cosmos. Soka Afrika...
July 2011
2 posts
Kicking & Screening: The Golden Whistle!
Soka Afrika picked up its first award last weekend: The Golden Whistle! Awarded by a jury of the great and the good at the 3rd Annual Kicking & Screening Soccer Film Festival in New York City, this was a real surprise and honour for the team behind the film. Let’s hope this is just the start…
Soka Afrika sews together a string of issues to...
afootballreport:
Film Review by Eric Beard
Creating an appropriate balance between educating a viewer and watchability is one of the most difficult tasks for anyone putting together a documentary, but the means in which the tragic stories portrayed in Soka Afrika were managed kept true to an equilibrium of fine filmmaking. Not only was I fortunate enough to see the film at the legendary...
March 2011
2 posts
Extract from Tag Zeitung article - Translation
Below is a translation from German of an extract from the Tag Zeitung article that appeared in Germany last Friday:
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“How close together success and misery are in football is also a theme in...
February 2011
2 posts
Translation of article published in de Volkskrant
The following is a translation of an article that first appeared in Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant on Friday 21st January 2011:
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Only two months ago they made the final touches to their documentary Soka Afrika, the product of a two year long quest in search of the African football dream. No...
May 2010
3 posts
WatchFirst trailer for Soka Afrika!
Jean Claude: Part 3 - The Gates of Glory
At the beginning of the 1994-1995 season, Jean Claude’s professional career was finally launched as he was picked up by French second tier club AS Beauvais Oise (ASBO, but not Anti Social Behaviour Disorder!). Having finally made his dreams come true and arrived at a club in the Promised Land of Europe, Jean Claude found that he had a fair bit to learn. He was first placed in the club’s...
New Look Blog Page
At last!! We’ve updated this blog page with some of the graphical assets we’ve especially commissioned for Soka Afrika. The illustrations have been created by Washio Tomoyuki.
Washio was born in 1977 in Japan and works in Graphic Design and illustration. He has previously exhibited in Tokyo, London, Berlin and Shanghai. Washio presently lives and works out of Nagoya, Japan.
We...
April 2010
6 posts
Jean Claude: Part 2 - Struck by the Travel Bug
Breaking into the Canon de Yaoundé first team at only 16 was a huge leap forwards for Jean Claude. In the next few years he established himself as a regular for a team considered emblematic of Cameroonian football. In the season following Cameroon’s outstanding performance at the 1990 World Cup, JC helped Canon to become champions and his performances in the red and green earned him a call-up...
Jean Claude: Part 1 - The making of the man
Jean Claude Mbvoumin was born in Nkolbiyen, a suburb of Yaoundé in Cameroon, on the 5th December 1973. His youth was a fairly typical one for a young African boy and so naturally football played its part in his development. The game was his first love and it helped to mould him both as a player and as a human being.
Like all the kids around him, from about 10 years old JC played with his mates...
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Kermit: Part 3 - World Cup Wishes
An 18 year old Erasmus arrived in Rotterdam, Holland, fresh-faced, wide-eyed and ready to tackle the 2008-09 season with his new club. Erasmus is a name synonymous with Rotterdam – Desiderius Erasmus, a 15th Century priest and humanist, being one of the city’s most famous sons. But, despite his name adorning bridges, hotels and universities throughout the port city, Kermit found adjustment to...
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Wavin' Flag - K'naan. →
Official theme tune of the South Africa World Cup 2010. Acoustic version…
March 2010
9 posts
Kermit: Part 2 - Europe beckons
Kermit’s international adventures started early when at the tender age of 17 he was called up to the South African national U23 side, otherwise known as Amaglug-glug. He even managed to score a cracker on his debut in a friendly against Denmark. Typical for a young man who seems to take in his stride every new challenge placed in front of him.
Announcing himself internationally in such a fashion...
Kermit: Part 1 - Childhood dreams
Kermit Romeo Erasmus
Born in July 1990 to Delise and Jerome in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Kermit’s rise has been nothing short of meteoric. Growing up in Arkadia, a township on the outskirts of one of SA2010’s host cities, was not an easy life. Crime and unemployment are two paths that trap many youths in the area. But with his stong and supportive parents and a big sister looking out for...
Introducing the Characters
Soka Afrika is a documentary that follows the lives of 3 principle characters: Kermit Romeo Erasmus, Ndomo Sabo Julien Bilal and Jean Claude Mbvoumin. Over the coming days we’re going to start to introduce these three to you here on this blog. Then we’re going to move on to explore some of the supporting members of the cast. First up will be Kermit and the story of his rise from township to team...
Kermit Rising
Superstar to be Kermit Romeo Erasmus has been nominated on a shortlist of 3 for the young African player of the year by CAF. You can check the story here on the excellent Kick Off website. Can’t get much better than that for us. Having selected Kermit to be a character in Soka Afrika we’ve filmed and witnessed his rise over the past year. It has been nothing short of meteoric. Starring for his...
Foot Solidaire
Throughout the making of Soka Afrika we have worked closely with French NGO Foot Solidaire. They work to support young Africans abandoned in Europe and to educate football institutions as to the problems surrounding the illicit migration of children as young as 10, all in the name of football. We are proud to support them in their endeavours and would encourage others to do the same. Please visit...
And so it begins...
Soka Afrika is a feature length docu-film celebrating African football in the run up to World Cup 2010. Following the different paths of aspiring young African players from South Africa, Ivory Coast, Egypt and Cameroon. We will explore the power of football to influence Africa for better or worse. Produced by Masnomis Ltd and TheSRK, Soka Afrika will be the stand out football documentary of 2010....