Somay Ku: A Uganda Tennis Story (2008)

SOMAY KU: A Uganda Tennis Story follows Patrick Olobo, Uganda's top-ranked tennis player, as he struggles to leave behind a devastating civil war and break into the ranks of pro tennis. Patrick was four when rebels decimated his family's farm and murdered his brother. A harrowing childhood, a stint in a miserable camp for the internally displaced, and a stubborn desire to help his dispossessed family have driven Patrick throughout his subsequent, improbable rise to Davis Cup competition and eventually to the United States, where he continues to train towards a spot on the ATP tour while pursuing a college degree. Accompanying Patrick during his last weeks in Uganda and his first year in the United States, Rex Miller documents Patrick's new life as it unfolds in unforeseen ways, from the thrills of elite competition to the challenge of navigating a new life contingent upon sponsors and transformed by American culture. Throughout, Patrick is haunted by his life in Uganda, from a commitment to help his family return to their ancestral lands to a growing cultural divide with his wife-to-be. Shot in mini-DV, SOMAY KU: A Uganda Tennis Story is a 90-minute documentary film, told in a hybrid style of Cinema Verite, interviews and action footage, with a heavy emphasis on strong visuals, as well as original music performed, by Ugandan musicians. The film will be accompanied by an Outreach program that will attempt to educate the larger society, both adults and children, about the humanitarian crisis in northern Uganda, while providing opportunities for young people affected by the 20-year civil war there.