Biersmith told the story of how he first got interested in Somalia and explained why he chose to make the film the way he did. A lively discussion unfolded about the character journeys of Saadiq Muhammad and Sa’ad Hussein, the two protagonists, and around the complexities of the three-year filmmaking process in Mogadishu, Nairobi, and in several locations in the United States. The forum also learned new details about Saadiq and Sa’ad’s current situation in St. Louis, Missouri, and what the future may hold for the young Somali immigrant footballers.
Participants included: Itamar Dubinsky, Martha Saavedra, Rose Eveleth, Andrew Guest, Derek Catsam, Danyel Tobias Reiche, Alejandro Gonzalez, Tarminder Kaur, Emmanuel Yolo Thoba, Alex Galarza, and Peter Alegi.
Danyel Reiche, a political scientist at the American University of Beirut (@Danyel_Reiche), conveyed the feelings of many of us in a tweet: “The film @MenInTheArena deserves a large audience. Hopefully @netflix or other big media are interested.” The film’s official release is scheduled for April 2017.
Listen to the audio here
