Le ballon d’or
France / Guinea,
1993, 90 min
Shown in 1994
CREDITS
- dir
-
Cheik Doukouré
- prod
-
Monique Annaud
- scr
-
Cheik Doukouré, David Carayon
- cam
-
Alain Choquart
- editor
-
Michèle Robert-Lauliac
- cast
-
Aboubacar Sidiki Aumah, Salif Keita, Agnès Soral, Habib Hammoud
- source
-
Chrysalide Films
- premiere
-
U.S. Premiere
OTHER
The second film of Guinean director Cheik Doukouré (Ebony White, SFIFF 1992), The Golden Ball is a wonderful film which chronicles the dream of a young boy to be a soccer player. Whenever a match is broadcast live in the village of Makono, Bandian and his brother Kanimade keep their ears to the transistor radio, fabricating a picture of the game from the announcer’s commentary, much as they fantasize that they themselves are on the field. Their own games are a poor man’s version, played with a plastic ball, yet Bandian wishes and works for a real leather one. When he has earned enough to buy a second-hand ball, he paints it gold. Like a magical object from a fairy tale, his soccer ball involves him in a series of adventures which bring him within reach of his dream, but which also require him to make difficult choices. In a real-life dream-come-true, producer Monique Annaud spoke of finding Aboubacar Sikiki Sumah to play the role of Bandian: “We thought we’d have to use two different boys to play the main role—one who was a good actor and another one who is a good soccer player, shooting just his legs during the match sequences. But we decided to try to find that rare bird who could do both because for me, it was very important that you see his face when he is playing and that kids his age in the audience believe that he is playing and say to themselves, ‘Hey, he really plays well. Maybe I could do that.’”
—Kathy Geritz
FACTOID #125
According to the November 29, 1959 San Diego Union, The Village on the River was the first Dutch feature ever shown in the U.S. (at the Third San Francisco International Film Festival).
