Zanzibar Soccer Dreams
(Florence Ayisi & Catalin Brylla, 2016, 65 mins)
Synopsis
Zanzibar Soccer Dreams (ZSD) presents the dawn of a new era for women’s soccer in Zanzibar, a predominantly Muslim Island in the Indian Ocean. ZSD is a follow-up to Zanzibar Soccer Queens (2007), which focused on Women Fighters, a team of strong-willed Muslim women determined to play soccer to better their lives. Playing soccer has taken the women beyond the borders of Zanzibar and the boundaries of their prescriptive roles - they traveled to Germany!
ZSD reveals personal and societal transformations borne out of women’s persistence to pursue their soccer passions despite obstacles and challenges. Their resistance is changing social attitudes towards women’s soccer. Nassra Mohamed’s vision and commitment to establish soccer for girls in schools has gained the momentum that could develop and sustain women’s soccer. The government has listened. Today in Zanzibar, Muslim schoolgirls can equally participate in soccer as part of physical education. As one schoolgirl declares, “something great has happened to girls” who now have the right to play!
Festival Screenings
Peabody Award
Cannes Film Festival, Prix Art et Essai
Cannes Film Festival, Special Mention Europa Cinemas
Int'l Documentary and Film Festival, Amsterdam, Audience Award
British Independent Film Awards, Best Doc Nominee
Women’s Film Critics Circle, Adrienne Shelly Award
The Royal TV Programme Awards, Best Single Doc
Hawaii Int'l Film Festival, Best Documentary
Royal Anthropological Institute FF, Audience Award
Santa Barbara Film Festival, Social Justice Award
RAI Film Festival, Oxford, Basil Wright Award
Grierson Award, Best Doc on Contemporary Issue, UK
Al-Jazeera TV Festival, Silver Award
Belfast Film Festival, 1st Maysles Award
The Tel-Aviv Intl Documentary FF, Best Int'l Film