The world’s eyes are on South Africa for this year’s World Cup.
This year’s event is unprecedented in sensory overload – the colors, the culture, and the fans – but it’s all just the tip of the iceberg.
If you’re interested in learning more about soccer culture and South Africa, IndieFlix has the documentaries for you. Then, get over to the pub with your facepaint on with a head filled with facts sure to impress your drinking buddies.
I Speak Soccer
Directed by Terry Kegel
I Speak Soccer takes you on an around-the-world tour of language, culture and play through the lens of pickup soccer.
American filmmaker Terry Kegel takes you on a world-wide tour of pickup soccer, shot over four years on six continents! Unlike professional or amateur league games, pickup is an unofficial, public and self-defined version of the sport. Without a referee to enforce internationally standardized rules, players create their own structure and style, which is influenced by their cultural and physical environment. The power of this informal play is both an honest reflection of our diversity and an inspiring force in community building.
Masizakhe: Building Each Other
Directed by Scott and Angela Macklin
This documentary follows a group of dynamic young artists from the Eastern Cape city of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, who are dedicated to the empowerment of their community through cultural activism.
1994 saw political liberation for South Africa, but now there is a need for cultural liberation. The role of today’s cultural activists is to liberate the minds of a people who have been oppressed for centuries under colonialism and its most recent form of apartheid. Author and poet Sindiwe Magona says that the African people “have been left with no tongue of their own… no tongue to call their own.” This documentary follows everyday heroes who are reclaiming their history and actively participating in building a future of inclusion. Their tools are spoken word, music, poetry, Hip-Hop culture, and the arts.
The documentary includes interviews with teachers and principals who were political activists in the 1980s and early 1990s reveal the similarities between the political struggle of the apartheid years and the cultural struggle of today. Some of these teachers are working with cultural activist groups by bringing them into the classroom to help educate people about themselves.
