South African filmmaker John Barker (The Umbrella Men) will follow the fortunes of Africa’s national football team at this summer’s World Cup as he prepares a documentary that looks back at the continent’s efforts to finally win on the sport’s biggest stage.
“Rising Giants” is a feature-length documentary that provides an intimate insider’s look at the World Cup journey of South Africa’s national team, Bafana Bafana, as well as the rise of rival African nations in the tournament, which will be held in 16 host cities across the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Written and directed by Barker, the film is produced by Themba Mfebe, Anneli Gericke and Abela Cruz for South Africa’s Barking Rat, and Bronwyn Berry and James Blue for New York-based Storyboard Studios.
The film follows Barker’s ’96: The Rise of a Nation’, a six-part documentary series about South Africa’s emotional victory in the 1996 African Cup of Nations (AFCON). The final episode of the show, which premiered on Netflix and South African broadcaster e.tv in January, aired this week to coincide with the opening of the Joburg Film Festival in Johannesburg.
As anticipation builds for the upcoming World Cup, Africa’s more than one billion fans are hoping their local team can build on the success of Morocco’s 2022 squad, which became the first team from the African continent to reach the tournament’s semi-finals. Due to the new expanded format with 48 countries competing, this year’s spots have yet to be finalized, but Barker said the continent’s chances were the best yet with this year’s competition kicking off in Mexico City on June 11, with up to 10 African teams competing for glory.
“If one team can break through, the victory will be more than just one country,” Barker told Variety. “It will belong to the continent.”
Players taking to the pitch will include African superstars such as Egyptian striker Mohamed Salah, a prolific goal scorer for English Premier League title holders Liverpool, and Senegal’s Sadio Mane, who led his country’s Lions of Teranga to victory in last year’s African Cup of Nations. Barker said they are among the homegrown players who regularly compete in “the best league in the world”.
“Before, it felt like African countries were just making up numbers. But now it feels like we have a real opportunity and a real threat,” he said. “We have to be positive. This could be Africa’s World Cup.”
The Rising Giants, led by Bafana Bafana, will begin their World Cup journey by facing co-host Mexico in the opening game of the tournament. This will be a rematch of the opening match of the 2010 South African Championships. The match featured a brilliant goal from the hosts’ player Siphiwe Tshabalala, resulting in a 1-1 draw. This blow momentarily raised the hopes of the entire country and continent.
From then on, the team’s performance stalled, and South Africa became the first host nation in World Cup history not to advance to the finals. The country has never made it out of the group stages, but Barker pointed out that even if Bafana Bafana fail to make World Cup history this summer, the players’ personal journeys have all the makings of a fascinating “overcoming all adversity” documentary.
“You look at the players in that South African team, their backgrounds and the drama they’ve been through,” he said, pointing to Bafana players who rose from poverty, including striker Lyle Foster, forward Teboho Mokoena, and goalkeeper and team captain Ronwen Williams, who have publicly spoken about their battles with depression.
“They came from nothing. For them to go to the World Cup, to the world stage, to do this documentary just to show that, and to see the World Cup through their eyes, it’s a great story,” Barker added.
The manager is the son of South African football legend Clive Barker, who coached the national team to the historic AFCON in 1996, a landmark moment for the young country still celebrating its transition to democracy after the end of apartheid. Two years later, the team qualified for the World Cup for the first time in South Africa’s history.
Barker said he saw similarities between the historic team and the Bafana Bafana players taking to the pitch this summer.
“I haven’t seen this much passion for a team since my dad’s team in ’96,” he said. “(Coach) Hugo[Blues]is definitely doing things for the team and making them play for each other. They have a passion for this country, they play for Bafana, they have pride in the team. They play for each other and they seem to be fighting for each other.”
The Joburg Film Festival runs from 3rd to 8th March.
