00:00I can't believe I'm in New York City and I'm at the Tribeca Film Festival. It's such an
00:13incredible place to be, but not only am I here, we are watching the screening of Rise
00:17of Sia Kulisi's story and yeah, I just, I can't believe it.
00:24As a black captain for the first time led the Springboks, 28-year-old Sia Kulisi rose
00:30to the peak of a sport long associated with apartheid.
00:33The Springboks and our Sia Kulisi made black people feel at home.
00:37Are you playing for the Springboks?
00:39Yeah, I'm playing for the Springboks.
00:42I used to go train in a thorny field, we were training bare feet.
00:46I think from the first day that I sat down with him and had a chat with him, I realized
00:58that he isn't a typical superstar, he isn't a typical athlete that's made it to the top
01:03and that's a god.
01:05He's human.
01:06He was humble, in fact half the time he was surprised that he had made it that far.
01:12So I think that humanity of his shines through when you watch the film.
01:16I think it's a massive lesson for all of us.
01:18If somebody can make it to that peak of his career and still maintain his humanity and
01:23still maintain his grace and still maintain his sense of kindness, I think that's something
01:29to learn.
01:30So I think if anything, people are going to see a story of resilience, people are going
01:34to see a story of winning against all odds, but I think the one thing that's going to
01:38come through the most is how human he is and I think that's a big lesson for all of us.
01:43You know, he was the perfect guy to film.
01:45We were nervous about how in depth he would go and he really opened up and I think that
01:50was the main thing in the film, it was just about giving an honest portrayal of who he
01:53is and our whole theme the whole way through was to create hope for young people, for kids
01:58in similar positions to him that they can, you know, no matter what the adversity is,
02:03they can with hard work and determination get to a position that he got to, you know.
02:08This film is super special.
02:10It's about overcoming challenges.
02:12It's about inspiration.
02:13It's about motivation and most importantly, it's about changing lives.
02:19This film will change lives because of the message and it'll inspire people to do whatever
02:24it takes to be successful in life.
02:26We were so fortunate to have 60 Minutes do such an incredible feature about Sia and not
02:31only that, there's been, you know, other documentaries and short pieces about Sia that have come
02:34out, but I think what's so important for Americans to understand is Sia's story is not an individual
02:40story, that there is so much in his story that is still existent for many South Africans
02:44today and this film is really just a raw, very real, honest truth-telling of his experience
02:50as a young person and what he had to go through, what he had to get through to get to the point
02:54where he is today and it also just makes all of his achievements that much more powerful
02:59and that much more impactful because he's had to go through so much as an individual
03:04and not only that, he's stemmed off of this experience, he's opened himself up and been
03:08extremely vulnerable with us and we've been able to do so much through our foundation,
03:13the Kholisi Foundation, and see so many other kids' lives changed through it.
03:21Sport can create hope where once there was only despair.
03:38Sport can create hope where once there was only despair.
Comments