DC Area Premiere

In America, baseball is oft described as a metaphor for life; in much of the rest of the world, soccer is the center of civic life. The world’s most popular sport, soccer unites fans while inspiring pitched battles and worldwide attention. In KICKING IT, soccer also turns the attention of fans toward the plight of the world’s 1 billion homeless people.

KICKING IT follows homeless soccer teams from six nations—Afghanistan, Ireland, Kenya, Russia, Spain and the US––as they prepare for and compete in the 2006 Homeless World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa. The stories reveal both the differences––culture, politics––and similarities––loss of pride, daily struggles––of homelessness around the globe. The film interweaves stories of the competitors preparing in their native lands with the play-by-play of the tournament in Cape Town.

The film does more than raise awareness; it gives the word “homeless” a human face and offers dignity to those who have been denied it, through a sense of purpose and the power of a shared goal.

KICKING IT also reveals that despite the intense competition, there is time for friendships and even attraction to blossom. When a young Afghan player who grew up under the Taliban has a chance to talk with a girl from Paraguay, language barriers drift away.  Human attraction, like sport, needs no words. As the players say in the film, a ball can change your life.

–Patricia Finneran