This website is moving to www.FlyingStarsDoc.com

This website is migrating to www.FlyingStarsDoc.com and 

will shut down by October 31, 2014.  

Please bookmark us at www.FlyingStarsDoc.com today!  

Thank you for your continued support.

Filming wraps in Freetown

Co-director Ngardy Conteh (in profile) and cinematographer Colin Akoon prepare to film inside a player's home, a windowless 64-square-foot room.

 

Leone Stars just wrapped up filming in Sierra Leone.  The fourth and last shoot took place earlier this month in steamy weather, topping 42C each day and 36C at night on the humidex, mostly in the capital of Freetown.  For nearly two weeks, co-directors Ngardy Conteh and Allan Tong with cinematographer Colin Akoon and local fixer Hashmiyun Magona filmed various amputee soccer players at their homes and workplaces, streets and villages.  Here are some images from the shoot:

The Freetown team sqaures off against the Bo team on their turf, in the interior of the country.  Final score: 1-1.

Freetown captain, Bornor, training to be a generator repairman.  
Almost all Sierra Leoneans run diesel-powered generators, because the electric grid is so unreliable.

Cinematographer Colin Akoon mounts a light steadicam unit to the back of a moving motorcycle taxi ("okada") 
to follow an amputee also travelling by okada.

Mohammed of Freetown's team being interviewed in his office, owned by a German company.  
Mohammed supports a young child alone.

The aunt of the Bo provincial team captain, Umaru, interviewed as she cooks in her smoky hut.  
From top left to lower left: intern Amanta, cinematographer Colin Akoon, fixer Hashmiyun "Hash" Magona 
and co-director Ngardy Conteh.

Following Bornor's weekly jog from the back of our Toyota 4x4.  
Amid traffic, Bornor runs for one hour from his home in Freetown's Leceister Peak to Aberdeen Beach.

The steering wheel of a mini-bus in Freetown.

Cinematographer Colin Akoon panning atop a hill near Fort Street in downtown Freetown.  
In one minute, he will be covered in heavy rain.

Fixer extraordinaire, Hashmiyun "Hash" Magona

A shantytown in overcrowded Freetown where few enjoy running water and where cholera struck last summer.

The sun sets over Aberdeen Beach as the Freetown amputees wind down their Sunday practice.

All photos by Allan Tong and cannot be reproduced without Allan's strict permission.

New producer joins Leone Stars filmmaking team

Katarina Soukup has joined the Leone Stars filmmaking team to help directors Allan Tong and Ngardy Conteh produce.  Mattru Media, founded by Ngardy, is producing Leone Stars.  Katarina runs a thriving documentary production company out of Montreal, Catbird Productions, and pitched at last year's Hot Docs Forum.  She brings with her years of experience in documentary producing and much-needed business prowess.  Learn more about Katarina at http://leonestars.blogspot.ca/p/filmmakers.html

Leone Stars to pitch at Hot Docs Forum

 

March 28, 2012, Toronto – Leone Stars has been selected to pitch at the prestigious Forum at the Hot Docs International Documentary Film Festival. 

The documentary is one of 25 projects and one of four Canadian ones that Hot DocHotdocs.ca has chosen from 150 submissions worldwide.  On May 2-3, filmmaking teams will present their films-in-progress to an exclusive audience of international broadcasters, distributors and other documentary buyers.  Teams aim to secure financing and broadcast licenses from the audience.  The Forum is a key market for documentaries in the world.  Admission is by pass only.
 
The Hot Docs Forum will take place on May 2-3, 2012 at Hart House on the University of Toronto campus downtown.  Teams of filmmakers have seven minutes to present their documentaries, followed by eight minutes of moderated roundtable discussion from the audience.

Yesterday's announcement is the latest success for Leone Stars, which was the first-ever documentary to win the coveted Pitch This! competition at the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto last September, followed by funding from the Sundance Institute as well as fellowships for directors/producers Ngardy Conteh and Allan Tong.

Donate to the LEONE STARS documentary

Donations are welcome to the Leone Stars documentary.
Five percent of funds will literally go into the hands of the amputee soccer players of Sierra Leone when the filmmakers meet them on their periodic shoots.

We're making this film with grants, fundraising like Kickstarter, and our own money.
To date, nobody on the crew has been paid.

As a thank-you, anybody in Canada who donates C$50 or more will receive this t-shirt:

Americans who donate C$60 or more will receive a shirt.
Those living outside North America: C$70 to cover postage costs.

To order: please email leonestarsdoc [at] gmail.com
and state your name, address and shirt size. We have S, M, L, XL.
Expect 4-5 weeks to process your order, since we order shirts in batches.
God bless.

Sundance invites LEONE STARS on fellowship

The Sundance Film Festival has invited Leone Stars directors Allan Tong and Ngardy Conteh to attend its January festival on the Documentary Fellows Program.

The film festival, founded by Robert Redford, runs January 19-29 in Park City, Utah. Leone Stars was one of 10 international docmaking teams (and the only Canadian one) chosen for the DFP. The DFP encourages invited filmmaking teams to network and raise funding for their projects. The fellowship comes on the heels of a Sundance grant to Leone Stars in November.

Among other events, Allan and Gad look forward to attending the premieres of the docs made by Canadians Yung Chang (China Heavyweight) and Jennifer Baichwal (Payback).

Happy New Year!

Two film shoots, TIFF Pitch This, Sundance...
Thank you for supporting the filmmakers of LEONE STARS through a successfully year. Here's to an even better 2012!

December 2011 shoot in Freetown & Bo

Leone Stars directors Allan Tong and Ngardy Conteh with cinematographer Colin Akoon returned to Toronto on Christmas Eve following a two-week shoot in Sierra Leone. Their ever-reliable "fixer" Hash Magona was the fourth member of the crew. The trip to the capital of Freetown plus additional days in the inland city of Bo marks the second voyage by the Leone Stars crew. Other shoots will follow, but for now here are some images of this exciting trip:

Ngardy, Colin & Hash preparing to film from the back of a moving car
winding through downtown streets in Freetown

Colin capturing kids playing the national pastime on Aberdeen Beach,
Freetown at sundown

Allan with Omaru (left) and his teammates in the eastern city of Bo after practice

Shooting B-roll of a pile of garbage burning off the side of the road in downtown Freetown. Sierra Leoneans don't enjoy garbage pick-up, so they burn it, including a TV set in this blaze.

LEONE STARS Win Sundance Doc Grant

Toronto (November 23, 2011) - Leone Stars is the lone Canadian recipient of the Sundance Institute's latest round of feature-length documentary grants. Last night, Sundance announced the 29 filmmaking teams that will receive grants from its Documentary Film Program. The Sundance prize arrives two months after the film's historic Pitch This! victory at TIFF, where Leone Stars became the first documentary to ever win that pitch competition.

Leone Stars follows the amputee soccer players of postwar Sierra Leone as they struggle to reach—and win—the World Amputee Football Championships scheduled to take place in Iran in late-2012. The film is directed by Allan Tong and Ngardy Conteh of Toronto.

Practicing on the beaches of Freetown, March 2011 (photo: Johnny Vong)

Leone Stars is presently in the development stage. With the Sundance and TIFF wins, Conteh and Tong are planning another trip to Sierra Leone, this winter. “I’m trilled that the two most important two festivals in North America have helped us to make the film,” says Conteh. “Our dream of bringing this story to the world is one step closer to a reality thanks to Sundance.”

The Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2012 and since its inception has awarded grants to more than 300 documentary filmmakers in 61 countries.

“For many of these filmmakers, receiving a grant will be just the beginning of our relationship with them," said Cara Mertes, Director of the Sundance DFM Program. “We welcome these filmmakers to our community and look forward to working with them to further support and develop their unique visions."

- 30 -

For further details: http://leonestars.blogspot.com/

Click for the complete Sundance press release.

Drumcultures online interview with directors Ngardy & Allan

Toronto's Drumcultures online magazine recently spoke to Leone Stars directors Allan & Ngardy in downtown Toronto. Click volume 3-23 at Drumcultures.

Leone Stars Telefilm TIFF Pitch This! video

Here's the video of our winning pitch:

(note: the 30 second trailer with Kobena Aquaa-Harrison playing the Djembe drum live to open the pitch has been edited out)

Pitch This! win reports

Some coverage of the Leone Stars Pitch This! victory at TIFF last week:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/tiff/story/2011/09/14/leone-stars-pitch-this-amputee-soccer.html

http://www.thecoast.ca/HaliwoodInsider/archives/2011/09/13/leone-stars-wins-tiff-pitch-this-competition

http://thechronicleherald.ca/ArtsLife/1263174.html

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Documentary+wins+prize+continue+filming/5404544/story.html

http://www.nsi-canada.ca/nsi_totally_tv_alum_walter_forsyth_wins_at_telefilm_canada_s_pitch_this.aspx

http://realscreen.com/2011/09/13/tiff-2011-leone-stars-wins-tiffs-pitch-this/

http://amputeenews.com/leone-stars-wins-tiff%E2%80%99s-pitch-this-and-10000/

Leone Stars wins TIFF’s Pitch This! as first documentary ever

Leone Stars directors Ngardy Conteh (left) and Allan Tong (right) during their presentation at Pitch This!
(photo: TIFF)

TORONTO (September 13, 2011) - Today the documentary Leone Stars beat five dramatic films at the Toronto International Film Festival’s Pitch This! competition. Co-directors Ngardy Conteh and Allan Tong presented their film to 15 judges and packed Bell Lightbox theatre. They walked away with the $10,000 development prize as the first documentary to win in the 12-year history of Pitch This! and only the second to ever compete.

Leone Stars was chosen the winner after Tong and Conteh's five-minute live pitch followed by two minutes of questions and answers from the jury of film and TV professionals. Tong and Conteh showed brief footage shot by DP Colin Akoon in March this year and, accompanied by Ghanian-Canadian musician Kobèna Aquaa-Harrison playing thumb piano, delivered a quasi-poem as a slideshow of images taken by photographers Fiona Aboud and Johnny Vong, played on the giant movie screen above. Their central motif was: "Do you believe a one-legged man can fly?"

TIFF's Christoph Straub (Manager of Industry Programming, Canadian Initiatives, TIFF) (far left) and Telefilm Canada's Anne Frank (far right) present Ngardy and Allan with their $10,000 prize (photo: TIFF)

“We worked on our pitch for weeks leading up to the event,” says Ngardy Conteh, “and it paid off. We are happiest for the subjects of the film, who deserve to have their story told.” 2005's Pitch This! winner, Richie Mehta (director, Amal) coached Conteh and Tong (as well as another team), and they also received useful feedback from friend and Montreal filmmaker David Eng. Tong wrote the pitch script while Ngardy edited the slideshow together and enlisted Aquaa-Harrison to play an African drum over the 28-second video footage and the thumb piano.

"I had in mind Richie's Amal pitch which revolved around the motif of an envelope," explains Tong. "I remember how simple, poetic and direct it was, and aimed for the same effect. By pure chance Richie was assigned our coach."

2011 has been touted as the Year of the Doc ever since TIFF announced David Guggenheim's rock doc about superstars U2, From The Sky Down, as the opening night film. Says Tong, “This is a victory for documentarians across Canada who have faced fewer and fewer sources of funding in Canada in recent years. And thanks to Telefilm and TIFF we can now go back to Africa to film the team as they compete at the All-African cup in Ghana.”

Leone Stars follows members of Sierra Leone's Single Leg Amputee Sports Club who are chosen for the national amputee soccer team. They were young boys when rebel soldiers hacked off their arms and legs during Sierra Leone’s ruthless civil war. Surviving poverty, war, and prejudice, the Sierra Leone amputee soccer team dreams of victory at the 2012 world championships. Leone Stars asks: Can victims become champions?


Leone Stars was the first documentary in English Canada to successfully raise over $20,000 in funding on the popular crowdfunding site, Kickstarter.com. The funds allowed the production team to travel to Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, and the southern province of Bo earlier this year. Additional funding is needed to follow the team to the world championships in 2012.

Leone Stars is being written and co-directed by Allan Tong and co-directed and edited by Ngardy Conteh. The film is produced by Walter Forsyth of Gorgeous Mistake Productions and executive produced by Jerry McIntosh.

For more information or interviews:
leonestarsdoc@gmail.com,
leonestars.blogspot.com
902.489.4897 (Walter Forsyth, producer)
647.200.9146 (Allan Tong, co-director)
416.897.5575 (Ngardy Conteh, co-director)

- 30 -

TIFF’s Pitch This! selects amputee soccer documentary LEONE STARS to compete for $10,000

TORONTO (August 11, 2011) - The film Leone Stars is one of six finalists chosen to compete at Toronto International Film Festival’s Pitch This! It is the sole documentary this year and only the second doc in the 12-year history of Pitch This! to battle for the $10,000 development prize.

Leone Stars co-directors Allan Tong and Ngardy Conteh will pitch on Tuesday, September 13 in Cinema 3 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. From noon till 1:30 pm, six pitching teams will have six minutes each to present their project before a live audience and a jury of film professionals. If Leone Stars wins, it will mark an historic year for documentaries at TIFF. From the Sky Down is opening 2011 TIFF as the first-ever doc to hold that honour.

Bono - Defender

Leone Stars follows members of Sierra Leone Single-Leg Amputee Sports Club who are chosen for the national amputee soccer team. They were young boys when rebel soldiers hacked off their arms and legs during Sierra Leone’s ruthless civil war. Surviving poverty, war, and prejudice, the Sierra Leone amputee soccer team dreams of victory at the 2012 world championships. Leone Stars asks: Can victims become champions?

Leone Stars was the first documentary in English Canada to successfully raise $20,000 in funding on the popular crowdfunding site, Kickstarter.com. The funds allowed the production team to take a three-week trip to Sierra Leone capital, Freetown, and the southern province of Bo earlier this year. Additional funding is needed to follow the team to the world championships in 2012.

Leone Stars began in 2008 when Allan Tong saw photos of the team taken by New York photographer Fiona Aboud. Allan enlisted Ngardy as editor then co-director. Halifax producer Walter Forsyth came on board and enlisted Jerry McIntosh, who manages the Feature Documentary Program at the Canadian Film Centre, as the executive producer. Endorsed by War Child Canada Leone Stars is seeking broadcast partners and private investment.

To attend Pitch This! please visit TIFF.net for ticket and pass information.

Contacts:
leonestarsdoc@gmail.com
leonestars.blogspot.com
902.492.1047 (Walter Forsyth, producer)
647.200.9146 (Allan Tong, co-director)
416.897.5575 (Ngardy Conteh, co-director)


PHOTO BY JOHNNY VONG

- 30 -

Video: CBC Soccer Day in Canada Interview

Leone Stars directors Allan Tong & Ngardy Conteh spoke to CBC-TV's Scott Russell on July 9:

Help send the team to Ghana!!

SLASC seeks to raise funds to Ghana to compete in the 3rd African Cup of Nations for Amputee Football

To contribute contact the team directly or go to our CONTRIBUTE page to donate

  

 

 

Pics from the CBC Soccer Day in Canada Interview

Here's a few pics I snapped with my phone as Allan and I got ready to be interviewed on CBC for Soccer Day in Canada. Thanks to everyone who tuned in!

To get one of our stylish t-shirts click here.

-ngardy

Ngardy getting make up

 Allan getting beautified!

 Floor director Bob and host Scott getting ready for the interview

 Allan in deep thought...Ngardy, getting one more pic before the cameras roll

 Much better Allan, ready for the camera now!

All smiles, all done!

We will hopefully post the interview online within the next week when we get a copy.

Leone Stars directors on CBC Soccer Day July 9

Leone Stars creators Ngardy Conteh and Allan Tong will be on CBC-TV sometime between 11:00am and 11:30am (EST) on Saturday, July 9. They will be part of CBC's Soccer Day in Canada, an all-day celebration of The Beautiful Game. CBC will air an excerpt of their footage and interview them about Leone Stars. Tell your friends and tune in! (Available in Canada only.)

Trailer (May 2011)

January 26, 2012 update: A new trailer, absorbing footage from our December 2011 shoot, will be uploaded shortly. This trailer here was cut with footage shot in March 2011. Enjoy.

Leone Stars Trailer from LeoneStarsDoc on Vimeo.

A few photos from the trip

Here are also some of the photos I took with my phone (after a few days I stopped taking photos since Johnny had the real camera), Johnny's amazing photos will be uploaded in a few weeks.

I've started to edit the footage, it looks incredible! I'm also going to get the rest of the video I shot on my iPhone together for you to see some highlights of the trip soon.

enjoy,
ngardy

some views of Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone



Cinematographer Colin shooting the view, Johnny and Hasmiyun (our guide) in the background

busy Freetown street

The Cotton Tree, a historic symbol of Freetown

A few kids look in as Johnny takes a photo of Bono, a member of the single leg amputee football club prepares a meal with his family