The official “Summer of Soccer” may have wound down, but with MLS playoffs approaching and club soccer everywhere back in full swing, the party rolls on. And here’s an essential celebratory stop for anyone who loves the culture around the game: another installment of the Kicking and Screening soccer film festival.
The festival – which comprises both long and short film, about happenings and characters both inside and outside the white lines -- hits New York City annually. This time around, it’s taking over Scandinavia House, in midtown Manhattan, between Sept. 13 and 16.
You can get the full festival lineup of movies and events – including a video contest – on the Kicking and Screening site. But here are some must-see highlights we recommend:
Tuesday, Sept. 13
Stickers Collecting Fever
This 49-minute film from Germany celebrates, yes, Panini stickers, and the lengths to which some fans will go to fill up those books.
Wednesday, Sept. 14
Club Frontera
This full-length follows Liga MX team Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles (Xolos) in their run-up to their 2012 league championship. Most poignant? How the team’s success affected fans on both sides of the border.
Thursday, Sept. 15
Uno: La historia de un gol (One: The story of a goal)
Hailing from El Salvador, this work explores that country’s trip to the 1982 World Cup, one of only two editions of the tournament for which they’ve ever qualified. The opening match saw them go down a whopping 10-1 to Hungary – but that one goal transformed into a point of national pride.
As a bonus, after this full-length, there’s a screening of the short film The Unrelenting Charlie Davies, about the MLS favorite now playing for the Philadelphia Union.
Friday, Sept. 16
Sommeren ’92 (Summer of ’92)
Nodding to the Scandinavian theme of the festival’s venue, this Danish effort harks back to, yes, the summer of 1992. That year, Denmark had failed to qualify for the World Cup – until they got a call that they’d be replacing Yugoslavia, who were disqualified due to their civil war. Naturally, the film follows what happened next.
Read the full festival lineup, and get tickets, on the Kicking and Screening site.
