Alley Oop Africa
Script editor & interviewer: Amath Mbaye
Twenty young players, seven countries, one basketball dream. And one story editor doing the job of three.
- Type
- Series
- Released
- 2021–2022
- Episodes
- 12
- My role
- Script editor & interviewer
12-episode series following 20 young Africans from 7 countries in an academy that combines basketball and sustainable development. Financed by AFD with the Basketball Africa League.
A phone call
Covid had sent me back from Kigali to Dakar, without a job, with a brand-new little video studio, Legui Nak. Then the phone rings. Aicha Awa Ba had recommended me to Keewu Production for a series funded by AFD with the Basketball Africa League. Some calls change a trajectory. This was one of them.
Three roles, one man
The plan was three story editors following the players from country to country. One dropped out. Another couldn’t travel. I left alone, with the job of three.
“Here comes another one who’s going to cry.” The crew said it before every portrait.
The film-set school
Until then, I did everything myself: camera, sound, edit. Here, for the first time, a real film crew, one person per role, around Nourou Sarr, one of the most respected directors in Senegal, and Rodolphe, the artistic director.
My post: the ears. Headphones on, I heard what the cameras couldn’t see yet, and called the moments to the two operators. “14:04, on the court. That’s a highlight.” Every moment logged and timed, so the edit could find the story. Up at six, every day.
Two hundred faces
As the only story editor, I interviewed everyone: the players, their parents, the people around them. More than a hundred in a month. Maybe two hundred.
On the portraits, three people out of five ended in tears. Not because I was trying to make them cry: because someone was finally listening all the way through.
The court
Between takes, I played. One-on-ones, three-on-threes, with young players dreaming of going pro. Basketball is my passion; on the court, trust is earned faster than in any interview. In Congo, the energy was insane.
The series opened in CanalOlympia cinemas, then aired on several national channels across Africa. By far the richest audiovisual experience of my life.
What I took from it
- You can’t force emotion. You earn it, by listening.
- One month on a real set is worth years alone.
- A good edit starts during the shoot, in the notes.
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