Black Pearls

Innumerable sub-Saharan Africans spend years of uncertainty in refugee camps such as the Traiskirchen centre. They wait for a visa, though most of them lack the necessary documents, or the more realistic outcome, deportation. Black Pearls is the name chosen for a football team formed four years ago by African asylum-seekers. Football, as a common language and source of hope, provides an opportunity for them to transform their reality, or just forget it for a while. The film mainly accompanies Larry McDon, the team´s cofounder and top scorer. Glimpses of the team practicing show the players struggling against aimlessness, and it also gives them support and positive energy. (elevenminutes.at)