Toy Green Sets Ghetto Kids as Debut Documentary

Ghetto Kids (w.t.), telling the story of a Ugandan dance troupe, is set to be the debut documentary from Toy Green, founded by the team behind Films by Nomad.

The documentary centers on Dauda Kavuma, a former Ugandan street kid who founded the Ghetto Kids Foundation, a dance troupe that became a viral sensation and is now headed to the Britain’s Got Talent semi-finals. It provides an unfiltered look at Kavuma’s reality and the daily struggle to provide food, clothing, education, medical support and shelter for a house full of children.

Filmmaker Phil Griffiths (Covid-19: Dubai, Discovery) from Toy Green uses a mixture of ob-doc and to-camera interviewers to delve into Kavuma’s early life as a street kid in the slums, having lost his father at a young age and finding himself penniless and homeless at the age of seven. Since then, he has been a footballer, schoolteacher, charity worker, dance group manager, music producer, NGO founder, entrepreneur and, of course, the mastermind behind the Ghetto Kids dance troupe, helping underprivileged children use dance as a vehicle to educate, provide, empower and build a different life for themselves and their community.

Ghetto Kids is executive produced by Zoë Griffiths (Inside Mission Kosovo, National Geographic Channel) and Tim Swain (Covid-19: Dubai, Discovery).

“I am so happy to have met the Toy Green team and for the time they have invested in me and our story,” Kavuma said. “It is the first time that I have felt free to talk about many of these experiences and to discuss everything we have been through to get to where we are today. I am really just so happy that my story will be spread around the world and that people will get to know more about the Ghetto Kids.”

Phil Griffiths added, “The drive behind making this film was to get a deeper understanding of Dauda’s life, motivations and his dedication to the Ghetto Kids. The truth of what it takes to provide for these kids and to sensitively tell the stories of the children and families who are supported by his foundation. It was an absolute privilege to witness the energy and unbreakable spirit of Dauda and the Ghetto Kids; their drive and joy for life is utterly infectious.”