In association with Cabin Films and Wider Film Projects

Directed by
Susan Koch

Co-Directed and Edited by
Jeff Werner

Produced by
Ted Leonsis

Producers
Susan Koch
Jedd Wider
Todd Wider

Executive Producers
Rick Allen
Randy Boe
Keith Clinkscales
Joe Edelman
Mark Ein
Colin Farrell
Jack Davies
Raul Fernandez
Sheila Johnson
Nigel Morris
David Pottruck
Russ Ramsey
Soroush Shehabi
Doug Smith

Director of Photography
Neil Barrett

Music
Charlie Barnett

Consulting Producer
Christopher Koch

Additional Photography
Horacio Marquinez

Sound Design by Kennedy Wright

Associate Producer
Ian Graham

Play by Play

Garth Lagerwey

Sound
Alan Tavener

Afghanistan Field Producer
Arian Sharifi

Spanish Film Crew
Hector Herrara
Annalisa Molteni

Cape Town Production Crew
Jacques Groenewald
Richard Rafe
Sam Wallis
Jeff Hood

Assistant Director
Todd Wider

Production Assistant
Haley Koch

Assistant Editors
Zach Braff
Jonah Koch
Amanda Mosher

Translators
Farida Azizi
Mario Rocha

Post Production Facility
Interface Media Services

Homeless World Cup Executive Producer
Kat Byles

In the summer of 2006, while the football world's attention was focused on Germany, thousands of players around the globe were training hard and competing to be part of another World Cup...The Homeless World Cup.

It had been a wild idea by a Scot and an Austrian -- to give homeless people a chance to change their lives through an international street soccer competition.

Five years later, the annual Homeless World Cup had become an internationally recognized sports competition.

500 homeless players from 48 nations would ultimately be selected to represent their country in Cape Town, South Africa - coming from such disparate parts of the world as war torn Afghanistan, the slums of Kenya, the drug rehab clinics of Dublin, Ireland, the streets of Charlotte, North Carolina, the overflowing public shelters of Madrid, Spain, and the unforgiving city of St. Petersburg, Russia, where the homeless have no rights or identity.

Win or lose, for these players it would be the journey of a lifetime.

The film follows seven players in their own tough worlds as they confront the daily challenges of life on the streets, battle drug and alcohol addiction, and fight for the right to be recognized as human beings. We witness their struggles, hopes, and determination.

The teams are greeted by the South African President, as they make their spirited entrance in to two newly built street soccer "pitches", located at the precise spot where Nelson Mandela was released from prison -- with the glorious Table Mountain as the backdrop. Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu joins the players, declaring homelessness the new "apartheid."

For 7 days of fiercely competitive matches, the teams vie for the championship cups. Despite the fact that they may not have a home, the players wear the colors of their country with pride.

From shattering misconceptions about the homeless to seeing people, living at the edge of society, discover that they can also be winners, the film shows in a real and powerful way that sports can and does change lives. As the Russian coach observes, "To me, football is the best model for real life. There is no last game in football and there is no last game in real life. You always have another chance to win."

Jody Arlington - Press Inquires

Screening dates and times to be announced.

November 29, 2007

KICKING IT World Premiere at 2008 Sundance Film Festival

Director Susan Koch and Producer Ted Leonsis' Intimate Look at Homeless Athletes Who Find a Greater Goal on the Field

Washington, DC, November 29, 2007?KICKING IT, directed by Susan Koch and produced by Ted Leonsis, will have its World Premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah this January. The film chronicles one of the most unique sporting events, where 500 homeless soccer players from 48 nations traveled to Cape Town, South Africa to represent their countries in the 4th Annual Homeless World Cup. The players have been knocked down by life, hailing from war torn Afghanistan, the slums of Kenya, the drug rehab clinics of Dublin, Ireland, the streets of Charlotte, North Carolina, the overflowing public shelters of Madrid, Spain, and the shadow culture of the illegal rural immigrants to the big city of St. Petersburg, Russia. KICKING IT follows seven players as they compete on the soccer "pitch" to become champions while overcoming poverty and addiction – showing that a ball truly can change your life.

"Soccer is the world's most popular sport and played in virtually every country around the globe, while homelessness is one of the world's most pervasive problems," said Susan Koch, Director. "When you bring the two together, lives can be transformed. We found extraordinary people who for the first time were given the chance to stand tall and not be invisible."

Koch is an Emmy and Peabody award winning filmmaker. Her 2007 film MARIO'S STORY premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival where it received the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature. KICKING IT was co-directed and edited by Jeff Werner. Neil Barrett was Director of Photography.

AOL Vice Chairman Emeritus Ted Leonsis, whose first documentary Nanking won one of the major awards at the 2007 Sundance Festival, said of Kicking It, "Films can bring people together, and amplify passion. We are thrilled to help spotlight these compelling individuals – and to show sports' powerful ability to give hope, focus and balance to us all."

Those characteristics, which Leonsis has termed filmanthropy, led a number of notable Washington-area business and charitable leaders to join him on the project. Executive Producers include Rick Allen, Randy Boe, Joe Edelman, Mark Ein, Jack Davies, Raul Fernandez, Sheila Johnson, Nigel Morris, and Soroush Shehabi.

For more information or to schedule interviews contact Jody Arlington jarlington@webermerritt.com or Jamie Shor jshor@venturecommunications.com

"When the basis for your relationship is about distributing a resource," Cann says, "that relationship is inherently a dependant one and often leads nowhere. What better way to build real relationships of trust with people from vastly different backgrounds than on the soccer field, where we have to depend on each other and where everyone is seen as equals." Presently Cann is overseeing the expansion of street soccer programming in other cities around the US and is organizing the second national championship of street soccer in Washington, DC this June.

Street Soccer USA began as a rag tag team of men and women in Charlotte, NC training in blue jeans and work boots. Although they lost their first 40 games, the team was successful at moving people off the street. Now the program fields two teams, one for beginners and one for advanced players. The team focuses on building relationships of trust through shared experience and setting short and long term goals for both soccer and life. Now the advanced team competes for the championship in local leagues while the developmental team shows great spirit and has become competitive. Both teams put on clinics and panels discussions about homelessness for the public.

Street Soccer has expanded beyond Charlotte as well. The first US Cup featured six cities and the second Street Soccer US Cup will be held this June 2008 in Washington, DC. 16 cities nationwide from New York to Seattle are planning to send teams. The US Reps for the next Homeless World Cup in Australia will be chosen in DC as well.

JEDD WIDER (Producer)

Jedd Wider is a hedge fund attorney and film producer, who with his brother Todd has produced numerous films including: BEYOND CONVICTION (2006); WHAT WOULD JESUS BUY? (2006); A DREAM IN DOUBT (2006); THE UNTYINGS (2006); KICKING IT (2007); TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE (2007) and ROAD TO NASIRIYAH (2008). He also produced MIXING NIA (1999) and was the assistant to the producer of WOMAN IN THE WIND (1990).

TODD WIDER (Producer)

Todd Wider is a plastic surgeon and film producer based in New York, who is active in documentary filmmaking. As a film producer, Wider has produced numerous films with his brother Jedd, as noted above, and helped passage of the Women's Health and Cancer Act of 1998, mandating insurance coverage for breast cancer reconstruction.

Agents:

Creative Artists Agency
Micah Green
2000 Avenue of the Stars
Los Angeles, CA 90067
(424) 288-2000
mgreen@caa.com

Submarine Entertainment
Josh Braun
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New York, NY 10012
(212) 625-1410
josh@submarine.com

Distributors:

Worldwide television and digital:
ESPN
Connor Schell
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(212) 916-9898

North & Central America theatrical & DVD
Liberation Entertainment
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Netflix
Thomas Zadra
Red Envelope Entertainment LLC
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Fax: 310-734-2999