South African filmmaker John Barker (“Umbrella Men”) will be following the fate of Africa’s soccer squads at this summer’s World Cup, as he preps a documentary that will look at the continent’s efforts to finally triumph on the sport’s biggest stage.
“Rising Giants” is a feature documentary that will provide an intimate, insider’s account of the World Cup journey of the South African national team, Bafana Bafana, while also charting the progress of rival African nations at the tournament, which takes place in 16 host cities across the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
Written and directed by Barker, the film is produced by Themba Mfebe, Anneli Gericke and Avela Khuluse for South Africa’s Barking Rat, and Bronwyn Berry and James Blue for New York-based Storyboard Studios.
The film follows on the heels of Barker’s “Class of ’96: Rise of a Nation,” a six-part docuseries about South Africa’s stirring triumph at the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). Released on Netflix and South African broadcaster e.tv in January, the show’s final episode aired this week, as the Joburg Film Festival kicks off in Johannesburg.
As anticipation for the coming World Cup kicks into high gear, the hopes of a billion-plus African fans hope a homegrown team can build on the success of Morocco’s 2022 squad, which was the first from the continent to reach the tournament’s semi-finals. With this year’s field yet to be finalized, due to a new expanded format that will see 48 nations competing, Barker said the continent’s chances are the best they’ve ever been, with up to 10 African squads vying for glory when this year’s tournament kicks off on June 11 in Mexico City.
“If one team breaks through, the victory will belong to more than a nation,” Barker told Variety. “It will belong to a continent.”
Among the players taking the pitch will be African superstars such as Egyptian striker Mohamed Salah, a prolific goal scorer for English Premier League titleholders Liverpool, and Senegal’s Sadio Mané, who led his country’s Lions of Teranga to victory in last year’s Africa Cup of Nations. They’re among the homegrown players regularly competing “in the best leagues in the world,” according to Barker.
“Before it always felt like the African countries were just making up the numbers. But now, it feels like we have a real chance, like we’re a real threat,” he said. “We’ve got to be positive. This could be Africa’s World Cup.”
“Rising Giants” will center on Bafana Bafana, which begins its World Cup journey facing co-host Mexico in the tournament’s opening fixture. It will be a rematch of the showdown that opened the 2010 tournament in South Africa, an electrifying 1-1 draw that featured a scintillating goal from the host nation’s Siphiwe Tshabalala — a strike that briefly lifted the hopes of a country and an entire continent.
The team’s performance fizzled out from there, as South Africa became the first host nation in World Cup history not to progress to the knock-out round. While the country has never made it out of the group stage, Barker noted that even if Bafana Bafana can’t make World Cup history this summer, the players’ personal journeys have all the makings of a riveting, “against-all-odds” documentary.
“If you look at the players on that South African team, the backgrounds, and the drama they’ve gone through,” he said, citing players such as striker Lyle Foster, who’s spoken publicly about his struggles with depression, and forward Teboho Mokoena and goalkeeper and team captain Ronwen Williams, both among the Bafana players who have risen from impoverished communities.
“They come from nothing. For them to go to the World Cup, on the world stage, for this documentary just to show that alone, and to see the World Cup through their eyes, it’s a great story,” Barker added.
The director is the son of South African soccer legend Clive Barker, who coached the national team on its historic AFCON run in 1996, a landmark moment for a young nation still celebrating its transition to democracy after the end of apartheid. Two years later, that team qualified for the World Cup for the first time in South Africa’s history.
Barker said he sees parallels between that historic squad and the Bafana Bafana players who will be taking the pitch this summer.
“It’s the first time since my dad’s team, that ’96 team, that I’ve seen this kind of passion for the team,” he said. “[Coach] Hugo [Broos] is definitely doing something for the team and getting them to play for each other, feeling passionate about this country and playing for Bafana, taking pride in the team. They look like they’re playing for each other and they’re fighting for each other.”
The Joburg Film Festival runs March 3 – 8.