Tag Archives: sport

The Power of Play

Lizards do it.  Even fish do it. The animal world is showing us why play is a serious matter.

Through a combination of ongoing experiments, reconstructed experiments and guided observation, The Power of Play reveals surprising truths about play in the natural world. 

Scientists from Europe, the United States and Canada, many of them pioneers in the field, offer convincing evidence that play is not to be taken lightly. In fact, it has the power to make animals and humans smarter, healthier and more likely to survive.

Foul Play

Foul Play takes us into the shady world of football match fixing across Asia, where government officials and corporate club owners conspire to ensure that the outcome of the game is determined long before the whistle blows. We follow the story of Simon McMenemy – an English football coach parachuted in to save an Indonesian team after shooting to fame in the Philippines managing their national team. After overcoming his initial culture shock, it becomes clear that the best team doesn’t necessarily win.

A sophisticated network of match fixers have an iron grip on the game, players on low salaries are vulnerable to bribes and coaches who raise questions can be removed by team owners. 

Foul Play uncovers, with startling new evidence, a world where international tournaments are set up purely to be fixed, players are given specific instructions on exactly when to take a dive and even when the match isn’t fixed, the referees can ask for a kick back just to ref impartially. As Simon’s frustration grows, it becomes clear that the corruption that is choking Indonesian Football, is the same that is holding back the region across every field.

Road to Rio

Featuring Pele, Zico, Gilberto Silva and Beberto.

In greater Fortaleza in the north of Brazil there were 12,777 children and adolescents recorded to be in child labor, living and working on the streets in 2013. ‘Road to Rio’ follows 9 of them who won the chance to play in the 2014 Street Child World Cup. The teens go on an inspiring, emotional and often amusing journey whilst they prepare and play in the tournament. This is more than a fascinating window into the lives of street kids; this is their chance to shine.

A timeless documentary showing the effect team work and sense of purpose can have on the human soul. Featuring commentary from Pele, Bebeto, Zico and Gilberto Silva.

How Ping Pong Saved the World

How Ping-Pong Saved the World recounts the events of April 1971 when a U.S. Table Tennis team became the first Americans allowed to enter communist China in decades. Their invitation paved the way for President Nixon’s landmark visit just eight months later.

For eights days, 15 unlikely American Ping-Pong playing diplomats discovered the little known world behind the Bamboo Curtain. These unlikely diplomats were about to reshape history and in the process make a breakthrough of historic proportions and in doing so, foster the beginning of the end of the cold war.

Ping-Pong soon became a metaphor for the on-going difficult relations between the United States and China – two ideological opposites on the brink of detente. ‘Ping-Pong Diplomacy’ marked the beginning of a new relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China; one that over the next 40 years would evolve into the world’s most important bilateral alliance.

Trophy Hunters

With exclusive access to the Dallas Safari Club we go behind the scenes into the hidden world of big game hunting, where millionaires bid to hunt endangered species. We follow them from the auction room to the African continent where they claim that their sport actually saves lives in bringing much needed funds to impoverished communities, and help in the conservation effort.

Each year, the club itself comes under intense media scrutiny and severe criticism for it’s annual big game auction, and it is here that the arguments in favour of trophy hunting can be heard at their most impassioned.

In this revelatory documentary we will enter the world of the Dallas Safari Club, who for the first time are letting a documentary film crew into their inner circle.  With this access we have an opportunity for some of the world’s most prolific (professional and amateur) Trophy Hunters to tell their side of this story. Through them we’ll seek to shine a light on the big questions in this debate. Does trophy hunting actually help or hinder conservation? In this most expensive of ‘sports’ where does their money go and who ultimately benefits?  This revealing and at times shocking film will explore the world of this close knit and fiercely loyal community, where the legal and the moral are often conflated and Hunters are revered as professional athletes.

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Contact us to request full treatment, more screening material, information on broadcast partners, budget, finance plan or any other matters relating to potential partnerships.

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Director: Des Henderson
Producer: Ed Stobbart
Executive Producer: Kazz Basma
Distributor: Sideways Film
Country of Production: UK
Language: English
We are looking for: Co-Pro and Pre Sales
Stage of Project: Early Development
Delivery Date: TBA

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Key Biographies

Director – Des Henderson

Des is an award wining director with ten years experience originating and directing hard-hitting and startling factual content for a range of broadcasters, including the BBC, C4 and RTE. Des is currently in post-production on his latest feature-documentary that will screen at film festivals in the fall. Credits include: Project Children (Currently in Production), Keepin’ ‘Er Country (BBC 2015), Hit the Stage (BBC 2013), Life Patrol – BBC (2012).

Producer – Ed Stobart

Ed is a multi award winning producer and director who has delivered successful, high quality series and films for all the UK’s major terrestrial and digital broadcasters, and his work has been seen in over 150 territories around the world.  He executive produces all of Alleycats output – BBC4’s Killing me Softly, The Roberta Flack Story; Here Comes the Summer, The Undertones Story; BBC1/CBBC Music City/Hit the Stage, BBC1 Longest Night and the award wining BBC1 NI/RTE1 Life Patrol and CBBC My Life: The Big Climb are highlights. Among his many award winning credits, Ed Stobart Executive Produced Pink Saris, directed by Kim Longinotto, which was BAFTA and Grierson nominated, winner of the Prix Europa, selected at numerous festivals including IDFA and Sheffield and broadcast on HBO, BBC and elsewhere worldwide.

Executive Producer – Kazz Basma

Kazz Basma set up Sideways Film in 2010 to distribute social justice and dramatic narrative documentaries. He has licensed films to broadcasters, all rights buyers, the education market and online on every continent and have been screened at prestigious festivals worldwide including Sundance, Tribeca, IDFA, Hot Docs and Sheffield Doc Fest. He attends at least twelve documentary festivals each year where he is regularly invited to speak on panels and at round-tables, serves as a guest lecturer at the London College of Communication and is an invited expert at EAVE (the European Audio Visual Entrepreneurs network).

Malos Pasos (series)

Malos Pasos is a series that through sports give us an inspiring perspective on environmental, disability and social issues in Latin America. We will travel across Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Ecuador and more Latin American countries learning that sports can help us overcome any obstacles.

Episode 1 – Limitless Sports

Inspiration can come from anywhere, but nothing is more inspiring than seeing others overcome adversity and demonstrate that their capacities take them to places where nothing is impossible.

Episode 2 – Sports and Environment

There is a strong bond between extreme sports athletes and their environment. Felipe and Jules show us their adventures, combining sports and love for the environment. 

Episode 3 – Female Stereotypes

Passions can be restricted by prejudice. Nevertheless, the stories of Mimi and Greisy show us that they can be overcome.

Episode 4 – Bones and Steal

Sometimes a wound can be far more than just that for an extreme sports athlete. Sportsmen Diego Iturrieta and Jonathan Camacho show it takes to get back on track.

Episode 5 – The Competition

Overcoming your own fears is more difficult than overcoming your opponents. Two extreme sports athletes invite us to witness the extreme lengths they will go to prepare.

Episode 6 – Sports and Dreams 

The path of dreams can be full of struggles, but for sportswomen Daniela and Mafer, passion is what gets them through. 

Episode 7 – World Records and World champions

Karl and Fabio relive their sports achievements and show us the sacrifices they had to make in order to achieve the highest places in their disciplines.

Episode 8 – Retirement and New Generations

Great figures of extreme sports dedicate themselves to preserving and expanding sports culture once their moments of glory are over. 

Episode 9 – First Steps

We all started out in different ways, in very different environments. The Villegas twins and Hardy Muñoz show us how to find your place in extreme sports. 

Episode 10 – On the Street

Discrimination is something extreme sports athletes have to put up with everyday. The lack of space to train, however, did not deter Musingo and Napo from standing out and achieving success.

Episode 11 – Sports and Family

Sports can bring families closer. That is what the Navarro and the Carrera families demonstrate, with children and parents following the same path for generations. 

Episode 12 – Extreme Sports and The Media

Technology has opened the borders of information sharing, and many entrepreneurs have taken the lead in using it to expand sports culture across the world.

Episode 13 – Sports and Legacy

All sports have champions who have inspired others to follow their path. By looking at the lives of Carlo de Gavardo and Felipe Acosta, we will understand how they entered the history books.