Qatar and Hollywood

Qatar is for people who love soccer. Let them enjoy the game without distraction. They are there for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but no director will think about making a movie about it. Soccer movies are too expensive to shoot.

Soccer Movies. I bought a novel about soccer from the dollar store, where most books die now. It is about a boy’s dream to make it at home in Argentina and internationally. It can be a money maker for a producer, but chances of it being made into a movie are zero. 

Soccer movies don’t exist because of production logistics. The producer needs a soccer stadium, uniforms, spectators cheering from the stands and the weather. The director he hires will need an army of production staff. He also faces scheduling problems, starting will just one game.

How do you light the star of the movie shuffling and dribbling the ball with someone at his heels? The camera must capture close-up shots like lifting his leg, and the foot coming in contact with the ball. The goal is the finale, that shakes the stands like thunder. How will the director stage such a shot?

There are indoor soccer stadiums in north America and computer graphics can simulate a soccer game, but that doesn’t cut it for fans in south America and Africa. They prefer the original open soccer field.

Countries are associated with a particular sport. Brazil and Argentina soccer. Britain, cricket for the upper class. Soccer, for British working class lads. Canada hockey. Cricket for India and Pakistan. Soccer for Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa. Soccer for Italy, Germany and France.

One soccer movie can add a lot of 000, 000, 000 to a bank account of any producer brave enough to try it. The audience is there, a hungry global audience.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.