The Flying Stars to celebrate Disability Day on the soccer pitch

The "stars" of my Sundance-supported documentary, The Flying Stars, will celebrate the UN's Disability Day on December 3 by doing what they do best: play soccer. The Freetown Flying Stars will challenge their Bo regional counterparts in a rematch of the game they played in the documentary.

All the players are amputees, whose legs and arms were hacked off by rebel soldiers or claimed by landmines, during the Sierra Leone civil war of 1991-2002.


The amputees were innocent children or teenagers at the time, and their attackers themselves were children, brainwashed by the rebel army to commit horrific deeds. At the end of the war, the amputees banded together to play the country's number-one sport in order to support each other, but also show their countrymen that they could "stand on their own feet." The amputees also play to cope with their PTSD.

"This football match is to showcase how peaceful and united we are," says the Freetown club's manager, Mohamed "Census" Jalloh who appears in the film. "We want to preach peace."

Census, as his teammates call him, asks for any donations to help cover the costs of transporting the players and renting the soccer field ("the pitch"). You can safely donate here by giving directly to the team or buying authentic Sierra Leonean wood carvings (above) or photographic portraits of the team by associate producer Fiona Aboud and the film's photographer, Johnny Vong. Similar items were auctioned off in a May 2016 fundraiser at the Gladstone Hotel in downtown Toronto.

The Flying Stars documentary is currently playing in Canada on the CBC's Documentary Channel and on the streaming service, kweli TV in the U.S.

For more information about The Flying Stars team and documentary, please visit here.

The Flying Stars premieres in the U.S. on kweli TV

Americans can now see my documentary, The The Flying Stars, on kweli TV, a new streaming service offering the best in global black filmmaking. Even better, anyone in the States can try a free preview of kweli TV for seven days.

In this 65-minute theatrical cut, team captain Bornor (pictured in red above) of The Flying Stars amputee football club of Freetown, Sierra Leone is profiled along with his teammate, Census. As they pass and score on the soccer pitch, both Bornor and Census struggle to feed their families and come to grips with the post-traumatic stress (PTSD) they suffer from the decade-long civil war. That brutal conflict claimed 50,000 lives and left unknown thousands of children amputated, mostly by other children brainwashed by the rebel army.

The premiere of The Flying Stars on kweli TV brings the story of Census and Bornor to American screens after playing around the world, from Japan to the Middle East, at film festivals and TV networks including NHK and Al Jazeera. Co-directed by Ngardy Conteh George, The Flying Stars, enjoyed its world premiere at the 2014 Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM).

Since then, it has screened around at festivals and TV broadcasts, including Japan, the Middle East and Denmark. The Flying Stars was awarded Best Documentary at Atlanta's BronzeLens Film Festival in 2015. Domestically, The Flying Stars is currently playing on CBC's Documentary Channel. 

The film was financed in part by the Sundance Documentary Fund. Both directors, Ngardy and I, are Sundance Documentary Fellows. In 2011, our film in development (then called Leone Stars) won the Telefilm Pitch This! competition at the Toronto International Film Festival and remains the only documentary to do so.

Learn more and follow the accomplishments of both the film and amputee football team at www.flyingstarsdoc.com 

Interviews at CBC Sports & Mississauga Indie Film Fest

I Want To Be A Desi director and co-writer, Allan Tong, and co-writer Dinesh Sachdev chat with TTN-HD Reporter Katie Uhlmann on the red carpet at the gala reception for the Mississauga Independent Film Festival on July 20. The reception took place at the Art Gallery of Mississauga to kick off MIFF where Desi earned an Honourable Mention from the judges. Thanks to Joanne Uhlmann who shot and edited this clip.

Leone Stars directors Allan Tong & Ngardy Conteh spoke to CBC-TV's Scott Morrison on July 9

LEONE STARS appears on CBC Soccer Day

Leone Stars documentarians Ngardy Conteh and Allan Tong will appear sometime between 11:00 am and 11:30 am (EST) on Saturday, July 9 to show an excerpt of our footage and discuss the film with CBC host Scott Morrison. Tune in!

For CBC's Soccer Day in Canada schedule, click

Visit the Leone Stars website to view our trailer and learn more about this groundbreaking documentary.

Bono during a Saturday morning practice on the beaches of Freetown

National amputee team coach Moses during an interview in Freetown

The Bo provincial team practices. Players from the regional teams are selected for the national amputee team that competes internationally. Leone Stars is a "process documentary" that follows various players through the selection process.

All photos by Johnny Vong who served as a Production Assistant on the March 2011 shoot in Sierra Leone. For more of Johnny's wonderful images, please visit his site.

Leone Stars documentary crew returns, editing begins

practice last fall

The crew of the Leone Stars documentary have just returned from a fruitful two-week shoot. They're chronicling the lives of amputee soccer players who've regained their dignity and purpose by playing The Beautiful Game of soccer. The crew was headed by co-director Ngardy Conteh, who worked in tandem with cinematographer Colin Akoon and production assistant Johnny Vong. I'm co-directing, writer and co-producer with producer Walter Forsyth. Read about their two-week shoot here.

LEONE STARS documentary begins shooting

The crew of the documentary Leone Stars is heading to Sierra Leone in west Africa to film a documentary about a team of young amputees who are champion soccer players.

Allan is the co-director, writer and co-producer working alongside co-director Ngardy Conteh, producer Walter Forsyth, cinematographer Colin Akoon, production assignment/photographer Johnny Vong, associate producer Fiona Aboud, and executive producer Jerry McIntosh.


Filming takes place this month and a rough cut of the film will be completed in the spring. Special thanks to all our supporters from our Kickstarter campaign last fall.

To follow the progress of the Leone Stars film, become a follower at the official blog.