A documentary on the American Samoan soccer team has won an award for best documentary in Britain.
Transcript
A documentary on the American Samoan soccer team has won an award for best documentary in Britain.
Next Goal Wins is a British film produced by Kristian Brodie and directed by Steve Jamison and Mike Brett, that charts the fortunes of the team, who suffered a record 31-0 loss to Australia in 2001.
They filmed the team over two years as they attempted to qualify for the World Cup, which culminated in their first ever win, against Tonga.
The film has now been acclaimed at the British Independent Film Awards, and director Steve Jamison spoke to Alex Perrottet shortly after.
STEVE JAMISON: I think what was most amazing is you know the quality of films we were up against. We genuinely didn't have any expectations to win and I don't say that in a kind of you know the false modesty of 'no I didn't do any revision' before your exams at school. We really didn't expect to win the award. The documentary category was so strong this year so we were just excited to be along there I suppose. It was an amazing event and it's a really star-studded event, which for us as documentary makers is always a bit overwhelming and obviously when the documentary category started organising I think we were so confident that we wouldn't win that we were still eating our desserts and the meal and obviously our minds were racing, we hadn't prepared a speech and we drew a complete blank on stage. Yeah it was a huge shock and a huge celebration and one I'm sure we'll never forget.
ALEX PERROTTET: And I think this proves as well that the movie does not just have an appeal in the Pacific but obviously right around the world. What do you think is the global appeal of this type of documentary?
SJ: Well I think you know the global appeal is the same I suppose as the global appeal of football but for us it goes a little deeper than that. You know it's not the sport, it's what brings people together around the sport, it's the kind of human values, family values, the cultural strength and the bonds between these teammates that the American Samoa team had and that's what inspired us. And I think when people watch it they recognise something that they believe is the power of sport and is the power of those kind of human relationships and it's you know I think what excites us all. And it's been amazing today to have you know a phone call with yourselves today all the way on the other side of the world. We've been getting tweets from Indonesia today, tweets from Japan, all across Europe and Africa and for us that is so so heart-warming. And obviously all our friends back in American Samoa, where we've been speaking to them regularly and you know we chatted to them just half and hour ago. So I think we've covered the entire globe in 24 hours and for us that is so exciting to be able have told this story so widely.
AP: Finally, you've been talking with your friends back in American Samoa, have you had contact with some of the main stars of the movie such as the goalie and what did they have to say?
SJ: We have, and what's really exciting is that we have designed and created a new kit for the American Samoa team which we're going to release around the world tomorrow so that people will be able to support them in more ways than one in their next qualifiers next year. So all the proceeds from selling any shirts to fans go towards paying for the actual shirts for the team themselves to play in the next world cup qualifiers.
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