Yenegen Alweldim

The most democratic game in a most undemocratic situation.

At a time of round-the-clock curfews, government surveillance and streets littered with the bodies of "anti-revolutionaries," Adugna struggles to maintain some normality and train his football team. When the team's rising stars are put under surveillance, Adugna's wife pleads with him to quit his passion and conform, but he knows this would mean forcible recruitment into the government-approved security force. Based on the book by sports journalist Genene Mekuria, the film depicts one of Ethiopia's darkest moments and uses football as a beacon of hope and distraction from the impounding fear of the Qey Shibir (Red Terror) of 1977–78.