In theaters since Wednesday, “A Dream Team” looks back at the journey of the American Samoa football team, considered the worst in the world. Among its members is Jaiyah Saelua, a transgender player played by Kaimana.
After Thor: Love And Thunder, Taika Waititi is back with a more modest film, A Dream Team. This comedy traces the true story of the American Samoa football team which suffered the worst defeat in the history of the World Cup in 2001, beaten 31-0 by Australia. As the 2014 World Cup qualifying matches approach, a new disgraced coach is hired.
Facing Michael Fassbender in the role of the gruff coach, the audience discovers Kaimana, a non-binary actor who is making his film debut. They play Jaiyah Saelua, the team’s forward, who is “Fa’afafine” (literally translated as “woman-like”), which in American Samoan culture refers to people whose gender is fluid and evolves between masculine and feminine. “It’s a sacred part of their culture and it’s just accepted.”explains the director.
2022 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved. Kaimana in “A Dream Team”
Kaimana is the only cast member to have met her real-life counterpart: “I didn’t need to separate the real Jaiyah from the character because we are very similar. That’s what guided me. Jaiyah has no other goal than to be herself and to supporting the team and community she loves.”
Jaiyah Saelua is the world’s first openly transgender female soccer player to play in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match in 2014. In the columns of Vanity Fairshe returns to her gender identity: “[Fa’afafine] is an umbrella term that can include gay men, non-binary people, or trans women. We are a recognized and respected third gender in our culture and in our society. There is no stigma, we play an important and specific role in our communities. If I have been able to reach the highest level of competition in football, it is because I was raised in a society that accepts me, celebrates me and recognizes my identity.
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Jaiyah Saelua & Taika Waititi at the film premiere in Berlin
While the American Samoa football team had already been the subject of a documentary in 2015, Jaiyah Saelua can’t believe the cinema being inspired by their story: “It was crazy to think that an Oscar-winning Pacific Island filmmaker was going to make a film about me and my team. That I was going to be immortalized in a Hollywood film for generations future.”
To see A Dream Team that Taika Waititi describes as “the ultimate feel-good story about underdogs”see you in theaters where the film has been visible since December 20.
Kaimana, Jaiyah Saelua, Michael Fassbender and Taika Waititi return to our microphone on the incredible story of the American Samoa team: