Red Card

On Comoros, the women’s national basketball team is training for the Indian Ocean Island Games. In the past, this tournament played between different archipelagos in the Indian Ocean was the scene of political tension: in 2015, the team from the island of Mayotte, which is still French territory, decided to carry a French flag, prompting the athletes from the three independent islands to storm out.

This year the team has to uphold the honor of Comoros, so the players get patriotic pep talks from their coach. In casually filmed scenes, we follow three of the players. Oulouhou combines training with caring for her children and working as a waitress; Hassanati is not only a basketball player, but also a football coach and security officer; and Razia is building her own house.

In musical extracts and voice-over, we learn about the background of the islands ravaged by corruption, poverty, and unemployment, and of the temptation to make the crossing into French territory. But despite losses or setbacks, “the ball of life must remain in the game,” according to the former national coach, and these free-spirited Comorian women show how that’s done.