NEW YORK — Forget soccer-specific stadiums for a moment. How about a soccer-specific film festival?
Movie buffs and soccer fans alike will converge in New York for five days next week as the second annual Kicking & Screening Soccer Film Festival rolls out throughout the city, beginning Tuesday.
With themes running the gamut from rabid supporters to war to the World Cup to referees, the festival will likely do plenty to satisfy fans of the round ball.
But the lineup also looks to impress film critics, too.
"We're really trying to take films that aren't just about soccer, but that stand on their own from a film perspective," festival founder Rachel Markus said. "Just because it's about soccer, it doesn't mean it's a great film."
The festival certainly has great films, though. It's just that they happen to be about soccer.
Among the highlights are Ana's Playground, which follows a child as she tries to retrieve a soccer ball through a war-torn street. The short movie, which was funded entirely though charitable organizations, has won dozens of awards this year. Joining it on Wednesday is The Last Yugoslavian Football Team, a Serbian-produced film that chronicles the final year of the national team once known as the "Brazil of Europe."
"I want people who don't know about the game to leave the festival thinking, 'Wow, that was a great film. I've never seen soccer from that perspective,'" Markus said.
Fans of the Man in the Middle — and let's face it, the game wouldn't be the same without him — will appreciate both Spanish and Italian homages to referees on Thursday night.
Oh, and fans of the game itself are well represented on Monday in a 12th man-themed night that also includes a pre-screening panel featuring author Simon Kuper (Soccernomics), MLSsoccer.com's very own Simon Borg and film director David Kirby. Kirby is the director of Fifteen Minutes that Shook the World, which follows Liverpool's remarkable 2005 Champions League final comeback—from the perspective of the fan.
The festival is a labor of love for Markus, who is both a soccer fan and a film school grad. A portion of the proceeds from the event are directed toward soccer-themed charities and initiatives that use the beautiful game as a vehicle to improve lives.
"We just want to celebrate soccer and film and bring people together," Markus said. "We love soccer, and we see the power of it and how it can give back, so that's part of our mission. We're trying to show that in these movies."
