Directed by Susan Koch and Jeff Werner
2008, 98 minutes
Kicking It is premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival April 23–May 4, 2008 in New York City.
About the Film
There are an estimated one billion homeless people in the world. That’s roughly the same number of football fans who watched the 2006 World Cup. What happens when football and homelessness come together? Lives change. And the annual Homeless World Cup has the statistics to prove it. In 2006, forty-eight countries competed in the fourth annual Homeless World Cup.
One year later ...
92 percent players have a new motivation for life
73 percent have changed their lives for the better
93 players successfully addressed a drug or alcohol dependency
35 percent have secured regular employment
44 percent have improved their housing situation
39 percent chose to pursue education
72 percent continue to play football
Kicking It, a feature documentary film, is about the power of sports to change lives.
About the Filmmaker
Emmy and Peabody award-winning filmmaker Susan Koch has produced and directed award-winning documentaries and non-fiction programming for worldwide distribution and television broadcast. Her work has appeared on ABC, NBC, PBS, HBO, MTV, The Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Turner Broadcasting, American Movie Classics, The Learning Channel, and the Travel Channel.
Most recently, Koch co-directed and produced a feature-length documentary on a young Latino writer from East LA who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison based on one eyewitness’ identification and no physical evidence. Mario’s Story premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival where it received the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature. The Los Angeles Times called it “an extraordinary documentary.” It is scheduled for broadcast and international distribution in 2008.
Koch directed the critically acclaimed film, City at Peace, which premiered at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC and Lincoln Center in New York City. It was featured at film festivals throughout the world and was broadcast on HBO (the executive producers are Barbara Streisand and Cis Corman). Koch also produced and directed the Friday night special, City at Peace, for ABC’s Nightline, hosted by Ted Koppel.
Filmmaker’s Statement
We wanted geographical diversity as well as characters that reflected the different reasons for homelessness. We had forty-eight countries to choose from. It was a tough choice. In the end, we settled on Afghanistan, Kenya, USA, Spain, Russia, and Ireland. As we began meeting the teams, we realized that this was a much better story than we ever imagined. I must admit I am not the football fanatic that Neil is, but I soon became hooked on street soccer and saw firsthand the tremendous power of sports to change lives. Everywhere we went there was a willingness on the part of homeless men and women to share their stories and lives. We were struck by how proud the players were to be wearing the colors of their country—despite the fact that they were living on the very edge of society. We spent six months following our players before we all headed off for the competition in Cape Town, South Africa. Jeff Werner, my longtime partner on feature docs, joined us in Cape Town as co-director and editor.
Click here to read an interview with Susan Kock, Co-Director of Kicking It.
