As one of the co-directors of the documentary film “Pelada,” filmmaker and Duke University graduate Ryan White traveled to 25 countries around the world to capture the passion behind pick-up soccer games in places like Kenya, Argentina, Iran and Japan.

White, along with co-directors and former soccer players Luke Boughen, Gwendolyn Oxenham, and Rebekah Fergusson, focused on the stories of the people playing soccer in each country. They also touched on Luke and Gwendolyn’s realization that their dreams to become professional soccer players may never happen.

During an interview with EXTRA, White discussed how the filmmaking team was able to fund the globe-spanning production and how the trip affected him from a social, cultural and political standpoint.

“Pelada” can be purchased on DVD by visiting the official website at pelada-movie.com.

EXTRA: I’m sure there are many independent documentary filmmakers out there that want to know how you were able to find funding for a film that basically spans the globe. It sounds expensive.

Ryan White: Well, now I realize how lucky we were because we began the movie in 2007 before the recession. We began the movie with a grant from Duke because three of the four [directors] went there. We had a meeting with the provost who had actually been a soccer player his entire life. He gave us the grant to get us started. That got us off the ground and got us to South America to shoot. We came back and made a short film about South America and shopped it around to different investors. We put it online for the soccer community. The final tally in donations from the soccer community was around $100,000. They really believed in the film. After the recession we were living every filmmaker cliché – sharing apartments ...