Early January, JB1 and his team mates were asked by film producer Luke Jin to appear in a short film titled ‘Academy Boy’.
Luke makes award winning short films, but this time around his storyline is about his own young footballing life and the strained relationship he had with his father because of it.
Here’s some details from the Film deck as supplied by Luke:
Introduction
There are 1.5 million boys currently playing organised youth football in England.
Only 180 will make it as aPremier LeagueProfessional.
Many share that dream with their fathers and entire childhoods can be
consumed by football. This is just one of those stories…
Logline
JIAN, a Chinese immigrant, is thrust into the world of English football when his talented son
THEO gets scouted by a Premier League club.
Obsessed, he pushes his son towards stardom but Jian’s passionate approach clashes with a
ruthless youth academy system which threatens to break his son’s spirit and their relationship.
Synopsis
Suburban England, 2003. Jian drives Theo to his first trial at the Youth Academy whilst desperately trying to galvanise him to maximise his opportunity; But Jian’s intense style of support raises the eyebrows of the coaches for the wrong reasons -jeopardising Theo’s chances. Despite this, Theo has an emphatic performance but it becomes clear to Jian that the system holds certain unspoken biases against them and that there might be more to securing a coveted academy place than just skill.
Personal Story
Academy Boy is a personal story to Luke and is based on his childhood chasing the dream of
professional football where he was exposed to the world of the youth academy system with his father on
the sidelines. Many of the challenges Theo and Jian face in Academy Boy are directly inspired by Luke’s
anecdotal experience.
The World
ACADEMYBOY is a sports drama about a common dream but from the unique perspective. Originally from China, our protagonists Jian and Theo are stark minorities in the fortified culture of English football in the early 2000’s making them outsiders to an established system in which there were entrenched beliefs and biases.
The favouring of physicality over skill in promising but developing, young players – sees Theo, small in stature but outstanding in skill, on the wrong side of that dogma.
Academy Boy will put this rich and cinematically untapped world of elite youth football on screen and depict the Asian immigrant experience in a new way, tackling universal themes of parenting and sport specific debates with cultural undertones.
The Drama
The main action of Academy Boy is the chasing of a dream but the real drama is between a
father and son and whether the bond they build in football can survive the journey. Jian’s
goal is to watch Theo succeed but at the climax of the short he is given the ultimate dilemma
– relinquish his involvement or his son’s chance at success…
This question is answered in the feature length version of Academy Boy and in a genre
dominated by rags to riches success stories -this one is ultimately one of failure.
In a society who’s youth see their future selves in celebrities and sports heroes, I believe we
deserve more stories of endeavour rather than success, equally as inspiring, infinitely more
relatable -if 180 kids make it out of 1.5 million, we’re telling the story of the 1.5 million.
We’ll post about the film when it’s released! really looking forward to it, in the meantime have a watch of Lukes other films: www.LukeJin.com
JB1
