When FIFA selected Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup, the petroleum-rich country used its vast and wealthy resources to begin constructing state-of-the-art stadiums and facilities utilizing millions of migrant workers. The Workers Cup follows a group of these men-from India, Kenya, Nepal, and Ghana-who, stuck in isolated camps, working arduous hours for unlivable wages, eagerly escape into a corporate-sponsored "workers welfare" soccer tournament of their own. While the tournament amounts to little more than a marketing ploy for those at the top, the laborers embrace the rare opportunity to let loose, compete, and prove themselves bona fide soccer champions.

A film by Adam Sobel

UK, 2017, documentary, 1h32 min


NOTE OF THE PROGRAMMER (Sundance 2017)
Adam Sobel's stirring and keenly observed documentary juxtaposes the freshly installed stadiums where the workers compete with the squalid and cramped corridors they return to at night. With an empathetic lens, Sobel showcases the collective willpower and humanity of men who refuse to allow trying circumstances sink their one shot at winning a tournament in the very stadiums the workers of Qatar sacrificed so much to construct.

YEAR: 2017
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
RUN TIME: 92 min
LANGUAGE: English and Nepali/Malayalam/Twi/Ga/Hindi/Arabic
SUBTITLES: Yes with English subtitles

Director
Adam Sobel

Producers
Rosie Garthwaite, Ramzy Haddad

Executive Producers
Dennis Paul, Paul Miller, Anonymous

Editors
Lauren Wellbrock, Anne Jünemann, Adam Sobel

Cinematographers
Nazim Aggoune, Joe Saade

Composer
Nathan Halpern

Sound Recording
Ramzy Haddad, Adam Sobel

Color Grading
Company 3 Chicago Tyler Roth

Sound Design
Drew Weir

Associate Producer
Anne Sobel

Consultants
Anne Fabini Francois Sculier Andrea Prenghyová Ulla Simonen


Contact
Production Company: The Workers Cup Limited
EMAIL: theworkerscupfilm@gmail.com
www.theworkerscupfilm.com


2017 | Sundance Film Festival, USA
* Selection - SECTION: World Doc
* World Premiere
http://www.sundance.org/projects/the-workers-cup