Director
Eddie Edwards
Development support
Rollaball will be an inspiring film that proves that physical limitations are no match for the Human Spirit. Filmed in and around Accra in the West African nation of Ghana.
Rollaball follows the Rolling Rockets, Ghana’s national Skate Soccer team as they battle for recognition as well as for theirown day-to-day survival.
Long Synopsis
Filmed in Accra, Ghana, Rollaball follows the Rolling Rockets, Ghana’s national Skate Soccer team as they battle for recognition as well as for their own day-to-day survival.
Ghana has a proud soccer heritage and you will find the game played in all shapes and forms around the country. Some unexpected athletes play one of the most exciting and unique forms of the game. Skate Soccer is a game created by disabled athletes that is every bit as skilful and antagonistic as the able bodied version of the game. Played with bone-breaking intensity, a typical game of Skate Soccer involves plenty of big talking and posturing, full body collisions and players being thrown from their custom-made skateboards. Every Sunday these young polio survivors converge on a deserted downtown taxi rank where for a few hours they can be heroes.
But after the game, many of these players can only look forward to the streets to rest their weary bodies. Ostracized by society, many are forced to eke out a living begging and many live in makeshift tents. Come Monday they hit the streets and are a common sight, dodging traffic at the busiest and most dangerous intersections in the capital.
When they do get money, the guys party up a storm, hanging out in bars, smoking weed and chasing women.
Rollaball offers an up-close look at Ghana’s national Skate Soccer team as they work towards their sporting goal. We also look at the personal storiesof the player’s harrowing and challenging lives.
