This presentation discusses the social impact of Zanzibar Soccer Queens (ZSQ – Florence Ayisi, 2007). The documentary presents a portrait of Women Fighters’, a group of Muslim women determined and proud to redefine their positions through playing football, while calmly resisting the cultural ‘norms’ of how a woman is supposed to behave. The impact of ZSQ has been profound through local and international reach with a ‘ripple effect’.

The research context and conceptual framework for ZSQ was based around postcolonial revisionist dialogues of decolonising the cinematic gaze with specific reference to cultural representations of African People. The research aimed to communicate perspectives, lived experiences of women and their identity, and visible evidence of an African that has changed and continues to transform. This objective reflects the broad agenda of Third Cinema. Hence, the research for ZSQ employed ethnographic methods in mediating and unveiling the women’s stories, documenting their activities and subjective perspectives in ways that would engage and enhance audience empathy on an emotional level. The process of documenting the women’s stories and activities represents some of the ideas of “strategic impact documentary” proposed by Kate Nash and John Corner (2016). It is in this context that the film aimed to be strategic in engaging and enhancing audience empathy on an emotional level.

ZSQ was disseminated widely and screened at numerous international festivals with resultant local-global impact. For the players, the film was a catalyst for renegotiating their identities and transcending their stigmatised status of “hooligans” to become “cultural ambassadors” when they were invited to Potsdam (Germany) in 2009; this was the first impact activity enabled by the film.

Their visit became the impetus for facilitating dialogue amongst different stakeholders, and inspiring strategic links between Potsdam and Zanzibar (Tanzania), which eventually led to a Town Twinning Partnership in 2017.

The ‘Sister Cities’ partnership has delivered a vast array of projects and engagement activities which are ongoing in both cities and are having significant impact and benefits. These include exchange visits, environmental projects, community development initiatives, renovation of a botanic garden. These projects are creating impacts into the environment, social welfare, culture, and society, and manifesting rich, and tangible benefits for people in both cities.

The presentation will discuss some of the partnership projects, the impacts, and resultant benefits. It will also offer provocations and reflections on the dynamics of global citizenship, and the role of documentary film in bridging gaps of cultural understanding and representations in cross-cultural contexts.

The presentation will include short video clips to explain and evidence some of the projects, engagement activities and impact claims.
Zanzibar Soccer Queens – Full Film on Youtube here.