Warriors of a Beautiful Game documentary crew filmed Florida senior Laís Araujo around UF's campus for three days last week. From left: Justin Noto, Kely Nascimento-DeLuca, Susie DeLellis Petruccelli, Laís Araujo and Eric Branco.
Warriors of a Beautiful Game documentary focuses on Laís Araujo
Wednesday, September 5, 2018 | Soccer
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The documentary follows a female soccer player from each continent. Laís Araujo’s story weaves them all together.
Florida midfielder Lais Araujo has fought hard to get where she is today.
She grew up in a Brazil favela, battled her way on to Brazil's 2016 Women's Under-20 World Cup team and became the first Gator junior college transfer.
Now she has an important starting role for the Gators and is adjusting to living in a new country.
And, within the next few months, her story is going to be shared with the world. Gator senior Laís Araujo is among the featured players in the documentary, Warriors of a Beautiful Game. The documentary is co-directed and produced by Kely Nescimento-Deluca, the eldest daughter of Brazilian soccer legend Pelé.
The senior from Salvador, Brazil, was selected as one of the players to be featured on the documentary "Warriors of a Beautiful Game."
The documentary is co-directed and produced by Kely Nascimento-Deluca, the eldest daughter of Brazilian soccer legend Pelé.
The film follows a female soccer player on each continent, and focuses on the inequality of women in soccer around the world.
"It's special. I feel special. But also it's exciting because I really had to overcome a couple (of obstacles). It was hard to get here," Araujo said.
Araujo will be the one to tie all of the other athletes together in the documentary, scheduled for release summer 2019.
"The state of women's football and the state of equality of women's football directly reflects the state of equality of women in that country. And that, in turn, represents the economic health of that county." Nascimento-Deluca said. "So it's not just about sports."
Araujo will tell her own story in the film, and within that the story of women's soccer will be weaved in.
This will include the current state of the sport around the world, Nascimento-Deluca said.
While on the UF campus, cameramen filmed Araujo going to class and practice, eating a pregame meal with her teammates and Florida playing a match against UCLA.
The producers have traveled to Brazil to meet with her family.
Araujo also met them in New York when she was on spring break.
Nascimento-Deluca heard about Araujo years ago from her brother-in-law, who is a youth soccer coach who takes players to Brazil to play against local teams.
He met her when she was about 13 years old.
"He came back from one of these trips and he was like 'Kely you have to meet this girl,'" "He's like 'she's ridiculous'. … She plays barefoot, she plays with the boys. She's incredible."
The film will also feature interviews from former Florida and U.S. National Team player Abby Wambach, former professional tennis player Billie Jean King, and former US women's national soccer team members Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy.
"It's awesome to be around these people together with them and fighting for the same goal which is the most important thing," Araujo said. "It's exciting."
