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…

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 Tribeca Cinema for the Kicking and Screening Film Festival, but I was able to chat extensively with producers Sam Potter and Simon Laub about the art of showcasing the horrifying tales surrounding the world of African football trafficking.

The story is centered around Kermit Erasmus and Ndomo Julien Sabo, two young men who aim to catch their break and live the good life as professional footballers. Both are talented enough to do so, however, the paths they go on to reach their mutual goal could not be more different.  

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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 Suridh Hassan’s “Soka Afrika.”   The film documents the fates of two young African players.  One of them, Kermit Erasmus, has made a breakthrough.  He plays in the Dutch league for Feyenoord Rotterdam, the professional dream has come true for him. Ndomo Sabo, in contrast, arrives for a bogus trial on the streets of Paris. He is one of many young African players who are trafficked to Europe by so-called football agents.

In the hope of glory and success, the family sold all their possessions in order to enable the son to fly to France. Once there, the agent disappeared with the money. Ndomo had to fend for himself - how many others dare not return home, the shame too great without having achieved something.

What distinguishes this film is its objectivity. It is not looking for culprits, it remains neutral. “We just wanted to show the truth. The audience can draw their own conclusions,” said Simon Laub, producer of Soka Afrika. At the end of the festival the audience will decide which movie wins the “Golden 11” for best football film 2011. Whatever the outcome there can be no losers here.”

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This article (in German), about the 11mm Film Festival currently taking place in Berlin, and featuring Soka Afrika, appeared in the Tag Zeitung newspaper last Friday. Translation to English will follow shortly…

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 wonder that producer Simon Laub and managing director Sam Potter approach its first public screening, on Saturday at the Kicking & Screening film festival in Amsterdam Ketelhuis, with boyish excitement. 

Numerous storylines - small and large, sometimes distressing, sometimes disarming - were uncovered during the project. That didn’t make pursuing a specific thread any easier.  Together with director Suridh Hassan they let themselves be carried away in a world in which only one in a hundred football dreams has a happy ending.

Although their involvement with the young players grew, and their indignation about certain irregularities was great, the film makes no accusations.   Soka Afrika is especially an excellent documentary as the makers have restricted themselves to the record. The accusing finger is omitted.

“Let others be the judge”, said Laub, whose parentage derives from Johannesburg, South Africa. “Everyone knows the stories of Didier Drogba, Michael Essien and Samuel Eto’o. What we wanted to show is that for every success there are dozens of less rosy stories”

Attention is drawn to the phenomenon of ‘trafficking’, whereby ignorant African families are approached by numerous dubious intermediaries who promise money and glory, but act above all for self-enrichment.  In addition, Soka Afrika reveals the mostly unfulfilled football dreams of young African players, the loneliness that they feel when they have left their homeland and have to look after themselves in their new environment.

This leads to some harrowing stories such as that of Ndomo Sabo. As a kid he is brought to Paris by football agent Filbert for a trial to play at a European employer. When he gets to the airport here and wants to call his parents to tell them he has arrived safely, Filbert tells him it’s not necessary: “They know that you have landed.”

The story of Sabo, which after many sad and unexpected twists still ends happily, is contrasted with that of Kermit Erasmus. The South African, bought by Feyenoord, then loaned to affiliate Excelsior, and now returned to the South African club, Supersport United, follows exactly the opposite course.

He looks good to earn a place in the World Cup squad of coach Parreira, but that dream ends in disillusion.  Director Hassan chose the stories of the two main characters to cut with images of the South African U20 football team, who recently participated in the youth World Cup in Egypt.

There is still space for the socially committed staff of Foot Solidaire, highlighting that young African talent attracts the dubious practices of agents and intermediaries.  The filmmakers deny however, that the football world is so black and white.

Thus, football agent Abdoul Karim on the not always noble intentions of the parents of some young talents: “In Cameroon they don’t like football, they like the money in football,” he concludes from his years of experience.

Laub and Potter showed the documentary to the youth team of South Africa. Now they hope that Soka Afrika makes its way to a large public, especially to raise awareness. One of the most moving moments is given as Sabo looks back on his bleak period in Paris, during which he roamed the streets. “Sometimes you realize that for months you have done nothing.” he says.  “I wanted to return to Cameroon…Better that, than my corpse would be returned to my parents. But they did not want it to happen. Do not come back, they urged me. We have gambled everything on you, or else you will shame us all. “

Potter: “Footballers dream. Others try to sell them dreams. And still others seek to exploit those dreams. Hence it took us some time to gain the confidence of these guys. “

Laub, further: “And guidance. In underdeveloped African countries there is very little structure and there are few people who the young players can consult. Many agents abuse this gap. There are many players who fall through the holes in the system and there is usually no safety net to help them.”

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This article about Soka Afrika appeared in de Volkskrant, a leading Dutch newspaper.  English translation to follow…

First trailer for Soka Afrika!

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 academy, where he spent a year honing his technique and tactical acumen.   

During that year, Beauvais struggled and the team was relegated to the National leagues.   Olympique Marseilles topped the division, having been relegated the previous season following the bribery scandal that engulfed the club in the early 90’s.

The following season, Jean Claude was deemed ready by his club and was thrown straight into the action.   Playing at left back, JC helped contribute to a season during which ASBO were promoted back to League 2 and shipped the fewest goals in their league, conceding only 24 all season.    This was the season during which the Bosman ruling came into effect.  While this threw open the European labour markets to European footballers it also focussed attention on non-EU nationals.

JC was subsequently transferred to USL Dunquerque where manager Alex Dupont rapidly installed him as one of his defensive lynchpins.  His experiences and performances playing alongside José Pierre-Fanfan – a future Lens, Monaco, PSG and Rangers player – caught the eye of many, including Henri Depireux, the then Belgian coach of the Cameroon national team. 

It was now April 1997 and with the World Cup in France rapidly approaching Jean Claude appeared to be timing his run to perfection…

Coming soon – Part 4: “It’s not a matter of life and death…it’s more important than that.”

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 will very shortly have a new and updated main website as well, which will show an exciting new 2 minute trailer.   You’ll be the first to know when it is up!

—Team Soka Afrika

JC in the Canon first team