THE GOLDEN BALL
(Le Ballon d'or)
Year: 1993
Country:
France/Guinea
Run Time:
90 minutes
From Hollywood's output you might guess the most popular sport in the world is basketball. It's not. Soccer (the original 'football') is the international language of skill, strategy, and grand fun, from the mighty stadiums of Europe to a small West African tribal village where 11-year-old Bandian, a self-taught football prodigy, dreams of owning a genuine leather soccer ball instead of the plastic imitations at the market. Then a kindly Doctors-Without-Borders volunteer gives the boy a used ball, a simple act that sends Bandian on an adventure that changes his existence forever. This is no simplistic rags-to-riches tale; sometimes the right things seem to happen for entirely wrong reasons. Yet in the end it's the recurring image of a soccer ball that tells young Bandian he's reaching his life's goals. Joyous and unpredictable, THE GOLDEN BALL not only tells a wonderful story but provides a realistic glimpse at modern Africa and, in particular, Conakry, Guinea - a sister city of Cleveland. (In French with English subtitles) - Charles Cassady
Screenplay
Cheik Doukoure, David Caravon
Director
Cheik Doukoure
Producer
Monique Annaud
Cinematography
Alain Choquart
Editing
Michele Robert Lauhac
Principal Cast
Aboubacar Sidiki Sumah, Aboubacar Koita, Anges Sorel, Habib Hammoud, Salif Kieta
Le Studio Canal +
6 Boulevard de la Republique
92514 Boulogne Billancourt Cedex
France
tel: (33-1) 46 10 12 00
fax: (33-10 46 10 12 20
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