BOSTON, MA — August 12, 2026 — Transforming the Beautiful Game: The Clyde Best Story has been named Audience Favorite at the 2026 Roxbury International Film Festival (ROXFILM), adding a significant new honor to the documentary’s growing international festival and screening run.
Now in its 28th year, the Roxbury International Film Festival is the largest film festival in New England dedicated to celebrating films by, for, and about people of color from around the world. Founded in 1999, ROXFILM has developed into an important platform for emerging and established filmmakers and has earned national recognition, including being named one of MovieMaker Magazine’s “25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World.” The festival has also received multiple Best of Boston honors and was recognized by The Boston Globe as a 2026 Best of the Best Cultural Festival.
The 2026 festival presented more than 110 films, along with filmmaker Q&As, panels, workshops, script readings, and special events at venues throughout Boston.
Against that backdrop, the Audience Favorite Award carries particular meaning for the filmmakers behind Transforming the Beautiful Game. Unlike an industry or jury award, it reflects the response of the people who experienced the film during the festival.
“The audience has spoken,” the ROXFILM team wrote in announcing the award, noting that the story of Clyde Best and Ade Coker was one of hope and resilience that resonated strongly with festival audiences.
The documentary was selected as ROXFILM’s Opening Night film, giving Clyde Best’s story a prominent position at the beginning of the festival. Festival organizers said the film “set the stage for the rest of the festival” and described opening night as a particularly special evening.
“This award means a great deal to us because it came directly from the audience,” said producer and director Dan Egan. “We have always believed Clyde’s story reaches far beyond football. It is about courage, excellence, resilience, and what one person can accomplish while confronting extraordinary barriers. To have that story recognized by the audience at a festival with ROXFILM’s history, mission, and reputation is incredibly meaningful.”
Recognition Continues at BronzeLens in Atlanta
The ROXFILM Audience Favorite honor comes as Transforming the Beautiful Game prepares for another major festival appearance.
The documentary has been nominated for Best International Film at the 2026 BronzeLens Awards and will screen at the BronzeLens Film Festival in Atlanta on Thursday, August 27.
Founded in Atlanta, BronzeLens has established itself as an important showcase for filmmakers of color and stories reflecting the breadth of the Black experience. The festival brings together filmmakers, actors, producers, industry leaders, and audiences while providing an influential platform for independent film and emerging voices.
The Atlanta screening represents another significant stop for Transforming the Beautiful Game and its mission to restore Clyde Best’s story to its rightful place in international football and Black sporting history.
The two festival honors provide two distinct measures of the documentary’s growing impact: an Audience Favorite victory at ROXFILM in Boston, demonstrating the film’s connection with audiences, and a Best International Film nomination at BronzeLens in Atlanta, recognizing the documentary within an international competitive category.
“To go from winning the Audience Favorite Award at ROXFILM to being nominated for Best International Film at BronzeLens is incredibly gratifying,” Egan said. “These are festivals that champion important stories and create opportunities for voices and histories that have too often been overlooked. Clyde Best’s story belongs on that stage.”
An Untold Story of Football History
Transforming the Beautiful Game chronicles the extraordinary life of Clyde Best, the Bermudian football pioneer who arrived in England as a teenager and became the first Black superstar of English football’s modern television era.
Best endured extraordinary racism while establishing himself at West Ham United, where his excellence and quiet resilience helped open doors for generations of Black footballers who followed.
Among the film’s defining moments is the story of Clyde Best, Clive Charles, and Ade Coker, who made history when all three started together for West Ham United on Easter Sunday 1972—a landmark moment in English football.
The documentary also follows Best’s pioneering career in North America, including his role with the Tampa Bay Rowdies’ 1975 Soccer Bowl championship team and his years with the Portland Timbers, as he became one of the players who helped establish the foundation for professional soccer in the United States.
Featuring never-before-seen archival material and intimate interviews, the documentary brings together generations of football figures including Sir Geoff Hurst, Ian Wright, John Barnes, Viv Anderson, Les Ferdinand, Harry Redknapp, Garth Crooks, Rodney Marsh, Ade Coker, Carlton Cole, and Kasey Keller.
From London and Bermuda to Audiences Across North America
Released in March 2026, Transforming the Beautiful Game began its public journey in London before traveling to Bermuda, where Clyde Best remains one of the island’s most celebrated sporting figures.
The documentary subsequently launched an ambitious North American tour during the historic summer of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, bringing Best’s story to audiences in cities and communities across the United States.
The tour has included screenings in Boston, New York City at Lincoln Center, Atlanta, Pennsylvania, Woods Hole, and New Hampshire, along with film festival appearances and special community events.
Now, the transition from the World Cup summer tour into a fall festival run represents a new chapter for the documentary—one increasingly defined by festival recognition, educational programming, and community engagement.
“Clyde Best belongs in the larger history of sport and social change,” Egan said. “Every time an audience discovers his story, another piece of that history is restored. That has been one of the most rewarding parts of this entire journey.”
The ROXFILM recognition is particularly fitting for a documentary centered on a Black Bermudian athlete whose accomplishments helped change the trajectory of one of the world’s most popular sports. For nearly three decades, the festival has championed independent cinema that brings diverse experiences and historically overlooked stories to the screen.
Now, with an Audience Favorite Award from ROXFILM, a Best International Film nomination at BronzeLens, and an expanding fall festival and educational tour, Transforming the Beautiful Game: The Clyde Best Story continues its mission to introduce audiences around the world to one of football’s most important pioneers.
2026 Festival Recognition
WINNER — AUDIENCE FAVORITE
Roxbury International Film Festival (ROXFILM)
Boston, Massachusetts
NOMINEE — BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
BronzeLens Awards
Atlanta, Georgia
About the Roxbury International Film Festival
Founded in 1999, the Roxbury International Film Festival celebrates films by, for, and about people of color from around the world. Now in its 28th year, ROXFILM is the largest New England film festival dedicated to this mission and presents independent films alongside workshops, panels, filmmaker conversations, and networking opportunities.
The festival has earned recognition from MovieMaker Magazine, Boston Magazine, the Boston Society of Film Critics, and The Boston Globe, establishing ROXFILM as an important and enduring institution within the independent film festival community.
About Transforming the Beautiful Game: The Clyde Best Story
Transforming the Beautiful Game: The Clyde Best Story tells the remarkable story of Bermudian football legend Clyde Best, whose career at West Ham United helped break racial barriers in English football before he became a pioneering figure in the growth of professional soccer in North America.
Through historic archival material and interviews with Best and generations of football legends, the documentary explores race, resilience, excellence, friendship, and the lasting impact of one of football’s most important pioneers.
WINNER — AUDIENCE FAVORITE | 2026 ROXFILM
NOMINEE — BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM | 2026 BRONZELENS AWARDS
For screening information and tour updates, visit ClydeBest.com.
Media Contact
Dan Egan
Producer / Director
Transforming the Beautiful Game: The Clyde Best Story
dan@deganmedia.com
603-387-4915
ClydeBest.com
The ROXFILM language is grounded in the festival’s actual award letter: they named the film Audience Favorite, specifically cited the story’s hope and resilience, said it resonated with audiences, and said the opening-night screening “set the stage for the rest of the festival.”
This now tells a much larger story than a single award: London → Bermuda → World Cup North American tour → ROXFILM Audience Favorite → BronzeLens Best International nomination → fall festival circuit → Bermuda Encore → education. That is the trajectory I’d emphasize to press, distributors, sponsors, and future festival programmers.
