Get the latest gossip
‘Umbrella Men’s’ John Barker Prepping ‘Last Dance’-Style Docuseries About South Africa’s 1996 Championship Soccer Squad (EXCLUSIVE)
The director is prepping a six-part limited series about the African champions who riveted and uplifted the post-apartheid nation.
“Bafana the Boys,” which has already been acquired by South African streaming service eVOD and is currently being circled by global platforms, features interviews with legendary players from the championship squad, such as team captain Neil Tovey and star midfielder Doctor Khumalo. Following on the heels of South Africa’s dramatic victory at the 1995 rugby World Cup — a triumph that many credited with uniting a young, fractured nation still emerging from the shadow of apartheid — the underachieving soccer squad was faced with a near-insurmountable challenge to match that feat, which was memorably captured in the Morgan Freeman- and Matt Damon-starring “Invictus.” Screening this week in Johannesburg, Barker’s “Umbrella Men 2,” which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last fall, is a follow-up to his 2022 Cape Town-set heist flick, which also bowed at the North American fest.
Or read this on Variety