Nice People

The teams' players don't live in Somalia any longer. They have immigrated to a small town in Sweden. None of the players have ever been on ice. The championship in Siberia starts in 6 months. Someone has clearly been thinking way outside the box.

Bravely doing something that hasn't been done before: almost the real story of 'Cool Runnings': We will cry and we will laugh as we follow the team on their way to Siberia and (spoiler alert) when they score their first goal.

With help of two filmmakers Filip and Fredrik we follow the intense, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes very comedic struggle to get the team ready for the championship.

Integration is tough. The little town of Borlänge has suffered a few industrial blows and unemployment is high. Support for the National Swedish Party (Sverigedemokraterna) is high.

When Patrik spends an evening at the pub with some friends talking about what can be done, they conclude that the locals love their football and they love their Bandy. Why not use sport as a bridge to get people closer to each other? Why not start the Somali national team in Bandy in Borlänge?

The film is about a group of young men who have fled the war in Somalia, ended up in Sweden and are determined to make it all the way to Siberia. The road there will be bumpy, but knowing that they will be standing on the ice, singing along to their national anthem, playing for their country, gives them the strength to carry on. A story on racism and fear and on overcoming them sometimes with a smile, an extra punch and a lot of training.

Human Rights Watch Geneva, Nordic/Docs Oslo, IDFA by Night, Docfest Maastricht, Budapest Doc Festival, Visioni dal Mondo Milano, Northwest Film Center Portland, Sztafeta Film Festival Poland, Gothenburg, Hamburg (Audience Award), Hamburg Box Office Hit Section, CPH:DOX (Best of Fest), IDFA (Best of Fest), Vilnius Film Festival, Eurodok Oslo