The heart wrenching story of former world champion Kassim Ouma hits the big screen this weekend with the world premiere of “Kassim the Dream” at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival co-founded by Robert De Niro in Lower Manhattan. In this inspiring tale of survival and determination, we see Kassim “The Dream” Ouma transformed from a Ugandan child soldier to a world champion boxer..
Ouma was born in Uganda, kidnapped by the rebel army and trained to be a child soldier at the age of 6. When the rebels took over the government, Kassim became an army soldier who was forced to commit many horrific atrocities, making him both a victim and perpetrator. He soon discovered the army’s boxing team and realized the sport was his ticket to freedom. After 12 years of warfare, Kassim defected from Africa and arrived in the United States. Homeless and culture shocked, he quickly rose through the boxing ranks and became Junior Middleweight Champion of the World.
Kassim, now age 29, seems to have obtained the American Dream with his jovial nature, fame and hip hop lifestyle. In the film, as Kassim trains for his next world title fight against Jermain Taylor in Little Rock Arkansas, keeping his demons out of the ring becomes increasingly difficult. His desires to reunite with family in Uganda intensify when Kassim’s only hope for a safe return is a military pardon from the president and government responsible for his abduction.
Award winning producer/director Kief Davidson shot over 200 hours of footage over the last 3-years for the documentary feature film. Actor Forest Whitaker, who won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, is the Executive Producer of the Ouma film. The film will compete against 11 other films for the Best Documentary in the festival, a prize that went last year to “Taxi to the Dark Side,” which later went on to win the Academy Award.
More information and a movie trailer are available at the Kassim the Dream.com website or the Tribeca Film Festival website.