A volleyball game in progress and (below) Marc Allen shooting War Games

Imagine an Olympic where the stopwatches are broken, cows invade the football field where barefoot footballers play on hard, baked mud grounds, and where runners collapse after long-distance races. All this while the threat of war looms large on the horizon with the fear of high-altitude bombers or horseback raiders attacking the civilian population.

War Games chronicles the triumph of sports in a civil war ravaged southern Sudan. The documentary, by 31-year-old debutant director Marc Allen, is part of BBC World?s Africa Lives season of programmes, exploring the ?global forces and personal stories? that are shaping the continent.

?In 2002, I was looking for a documentary idea when I read a newspaper article that detailed these games held in southern Sudan,? Allen told Metro from London. ?I got in touch with the journalist and learnt that I had six months to prepare for the next set of games, in January 2003.?

Come January and Allen was in southern Sudan with Heather Baker, who produced the show and handled the camera. The duo lived with the locals for two months a few miles from the frontline of one of Africa?s longest and most brutal conflicts.

?Acuil Banggol was a basketball player in Kenya who realised the potential of sports in bonding people in a situation like this. He then tried to stage a kind of Olympics called the Twitch Olympics. Charles Loker, another local, helped in the logistics,? explained Allen.

There were hurdles and various threats along the way, but thousands of young people walked for up to two days in the scorching heat to arrive at the venue. ?We were unsure of how many would actually turn up, but on the day of the football match, there was an unbelievable crowd, dancing and singing? all amidst so much depression.?

The duo spent a week getting acquainted with the local people and the climate. ?There was laughing and chatting and then suddenly you turn around to find someone standing with a gun.?

Post?production of the 50-minute film took around one-and-a-half years. It was also self-financed, something Allen takes pride in. ?It helps you maintain control over the story you want to tell. There?s no sponsor and thus no agenda to push.?

War Games was screened at the Los Angeles Amnesty International film festival and received an ?amazing response?. There are plans to take it to other festivals in Toronto and Denmark, and, of course, southern Sudan.

By day, Allen works in a film distribution company and was involved in Motorcycle Diaries and Bride & Prejudice, albeit in a small way. ?I really just did the paperwork for distribution,? he offered.

Next up: more documentaries, possibly one on women?s rights in India. ?I want to make films for a good reason. And through them, I want to take people to parts of the world and stories of the world they haven?t seen,? Allen added. War Games airs on BBC World, July 2 at 12.40 pm.