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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."

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

Click for the complete Sundance press release.