‘The Battle of the Sexes’ is a gripping documentary about
the 1973 tennis match between Wimbledon champion Billie Jean King and the
self-confessed “male chauvinist pig” Bobby Riggs ( New Black Films). King
won the match, but the film is much more than just the record of a tennis
match. It is the story of King’s fight for equality for women on the tennis
courts, and in society in general. Tennis is now the only professional sport where women are paid equally, thanks to the
tenacity of Billie Jean King.
I attended the Premier of the film several weeks ago with
two of my students from the “Wembley to Soweto” project (Wembley to Soweto)
‘Wembley to Soweto’ began in 2010 during the South African
World Cup, teaching young men and women from Soweto how to feed their families
with their cameras. The project has since grown, working with young
photographers in Newcastle, Cumbria, Brighton and most recently in London
during the Olympics.
Samin Ahmadzadeh and Casey Newton, two students from the
Olympic project, had the opportunity to work in a real-time situation, rubbing
shoulders with London’s top press and news photographers at big celebrity
event.
Plans are afoot to run “Wembley to Soweto” in Brazil for the
2014 World Cup. Stay tuned!
