World Cup does documentaries

Soccer tournament launches film series

By CHRISTELLE DE JAGER

The 2010 World Cup soccer tournament to be held in South Africa has kicked off the production of a series of documentaries about the game for broadcast on free-to-air channel e.tv.

"Total Soccer," a collaboration between production company Little Bird Television and major soccer sponsor Total South Africa, includes a range of one-hour documentaries on all aspects of the game in South Africa -- from the players and teams to its broader social impact and the country's preparations for 2010.

The first run of "Total Soccer" docus broadcast last year pulled in around 750,000 viewers per episode in is late night time slot, but the second series will be broadcast during e.tv's Sunday evening prime time from mid-February to May 11.

Little Bird said the documentaries would continue to be produced over the next three years in the run-up to the 2010 tournament, with leading local filmmakers to be invited to direct.

E.tv said the series had "a breadth of vision that takes it beyond the narrow confines of sport to embrace music, art and popular culture". For example, some of the new docus would specifically explore the social value of soccer in South Africa's new democracy in which "the game is a metaphor for liberation".

"Racial barriers in sport were first broken down on the soccer pitch and it was footballers who instigated many of the changes that were to take place decades later in South Africa. Because of this special significance, football is much more than a game to South Africans - a message which is underlined in every installment of "Total Soccer. "

The series will resume for a third run from 27 July to 31 August 2008.