A film crew of three commissioned by FIFA is currently in the country to continue filming the Solomon Islands Kurukuru documentary after the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2021 in Lithuania.
The crew spent two weeks with the team in Lithuania and could not travel to Solomon Islands due to border restrictions. However, as the travel restrictions were lifted, Jim and his two team members managed to come over to the Islands to continue with the final part of the documentary in the country for the next 10 days.
Today the crew went to Burns Creek to film with Kurukuru target man Charlie Otainao at his family residence and local church Bethlehem.
During the World Cup, Kurukuru way of worship pre-match captured the hearts of many people and even opposition teams. The crew filmed Otainao joining his church worship program at Burns Creek.
The next 10 days will see the crew filming with other members of Kurukuru, pioneers of futsal, fans, and a possible interview with a prominent politician in the government.
Background of the documentary
The crew is from UK’s based Grain Media, hired by FIFA Films to create a documentary of at least 40 minutes and a possible full feature-length documentary and would be screened in the biggest and most prestigious film festivals all over the world.
Head of the crew is Jim Williams a director and documentary filmmaker who recently worked with England manager Gareth Southgate and did some features with some top footballers in the Premier League.
Grain Media, who very recently won an Academy Award (Oscar) for Documentary Short Film (Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone), together with Jim have been commissioned by FIFA Films to produce a film with its background centered around the Futsal World Cup Lithuania 2021.
“Upon commission, we began researching potential stories from around the world – human stories, beyond that of just sport – and the story of the Solomon Islands team quickly drew our attention,” Jim said.
“The rapid rise of the sport in your country has been truly amazing and mirroring your continued success is the growing spirit in which the population has embraced it. It is a story and journey which deserves wider attention. Indeed, it is a truly human story that transcends purely football fans and has the potential to reach everyone in a hugely positive way”.
Jim reached out to SIFF Media in 2020 and the exchange of communication took off from there around how to tell the Kurukuru. Last year Jim and three other members met SIFF Media and the Kurukuru team in Poland to start the journey together to the FIFA Futsal World Cup in Lithuania.
This is first time for one of our national teams to be featured in a documentary by FIFA Films and produced by an award winning Oscar production company.
Kurukuru documentary on the roll
