FEBRUARY 9 - 15 FESTIVAL’S DOSSIER THE FESTIVAL Thinking Football Film Festival is a film and football festival with a social theme organized by the Athletic Club Foundation and Sala BBK, with the collabora- tion of the Bilbao City council. The festival will be taking place between the 9th and 15th of February 2015 at Sala BBK, with free admission to all screenings. The 2015 edition will be Thinking Football Film Festival’s third edition. In it, ten documentary films originating from countries such as Brazil, France, Germany, the United States, Poland or United Kingdom will be presented. These films address the social and political role of soccer players and clubs; soccer as the articulator of social inclusion, the use of soccer by political authorities, et cetera. Most of these documentaries are yet unpublished in Spain and are presented in S.O.V. As every year, thanks to the viewers’ participation, the Audience Award to the best film, endowed with an economic prize that the director of the winning film will have to donate to a social project related to the sport, will be awarded. Previous years’ winners are the films Football Rebels (Gilles Perez and Gilles Rof, France, 2012), in the 2013 edition, and Next Goal Wins (Mike Brett and Steve Jamison, England, 2014) in 2014. PROGRAMME 19:30h 19:00h 17:00h february february february Les Rebelles du Foot 2 Wie im falschen Film 18team (Football Rebels 2) (We’re in the wrong film) 2014, Juan Rodríguez-Briso 2014, Gilles Perez & Gilles Rof 2014, Timian Hopf 70 minutes (O.V.S.E.) 90 minutes (O.V.S.E.) 44 minutes (O.V.S.E.) 19:00h 20:00h Mundial. Gra o wszystko Democracia em Preto e Blanco (Mundial: The Highest Stakes) (Democracy in Black and White) 2014, Michal Bielawski 2014, Pedro Asberg 90 minutes (O.V.S.E.) 90 minutes (O.V.S.E.) 18:00h 18:00h 19:00h february february february Coach Zoran and his African Tigers A World Not Ours Foot et immigration, (El entrenador Zoran y los Tigres del Sol) (Un mundo que no es nuestro) 100 ans d'histoire commune (Football and Immigration, 2013, Sam Benstead 2012, Mahdi Fleifel 15 100 years of common history) 75 minutes (O.V.S.E.) 92 minutes (O.V.S.E.) 2014, Gilles Pérez & Eric Cantona 90 minutes (O.V.S.E.) 20:00h 20:00h We Must Go Sons of Ben (Debemos ir) 2015, Jeffrey C. Bell 2014, Dave LaMattina y Chad N. Waker 90 minutes (O.V.S.E.) 90 minutes (O.V.S.E.) *Schedules may change depending the Athletic Club matches THE FILMS Les Rebelles du Foot 2 (Football Rebels 2) France, 2014 Gilles Perez and Gilles Rof / 90 mins (O.V.S.E.) Second part of the award-winning film "Football Rebels", broadcast on Canal + France with the stories of five footballers who took a step forward and became social heroes through football. It gathers the stories of Honey Thaljieh (founder of the Palestine Women’s National team), Claudius Tamburrini (Lanús goalie jailed and tortured by the Argentine dictatorship of Videla who escaped from the torture centre sadly known as Mansión Sere), Cristiano Lucarelli (left-wing reference in recent years in the Italian Calcio), Alfonsinho (one of the World’s pioneer in the fight for the labour rights of footballers) and Saturnino Navazo (imprisoned republican in the Nazi concentration camp of Mauthausen, where he organized a football championship for prisoners). Wie im falschen Film (We’re in the wrong film) Germany, 2014, Timian Hopf / 44 mins (O.V.S.E.) A film produced by the association ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ of Germany which takes us on a journey through different stories that show how racism, gender stereotyping and homophobia are still present in the stands. The documentary tells the testimonies of football players that have suffered these prejudices in their flesh, among others, Jérôme and Kevin-Prince Boateng, Roberto Hilbert, Anthony Ujah, Gerald Asamoah, Andreas Beck, Hans Sarpei, Christoph Metzel- der, Katja Kraus, Rashid Azzouzi or Anja Mittag. THE FILMS Democracia em Preto e Blanco (Democracy in Black and White) Brazil, 2014, Pedro Asberg / 90 mins (O.V.S.E.) In the early 1980’s, with Brazil suffering an iron-clad military dictatorship for decades, Corinthians de Sócrates initiated a revolution that would add to the climate of change driven by the amnesty movement, strikes, the stu- dent movement and the burgeoning of a rebellious music scene. A soccer utopia that was born with the objective of democratizing the club but that ended up becoming the symbol of the country’s fight to recover their lost free- dom. This is the story of the Corinthian Democracy, of when a soccer club spearheaded a freedom movement. 18team Spain-Zambia, 2014, Juan Rodríguez-Briso / 70 mins (O.V.S.E.) "Eighteam" is a documentary film that narrates the journey of Chipolopolo (“the Copper bullets”, nickname of the Zambian National Soccer team in the Bemba language), from the tragedy to the glory incarnated in the figure of its star player Kalusha Bwalya. It is a journey that began in 1988 when a promising Zambian National team overwhelmingly defeated Italy by 4-0 in the Olympic Games and set its sights in qualifying for the World Cup for the first time. But the Zambia Air Force plane that was taking the team to Senegal to dispute a qualifying match crashed in the Atlantic Ocean, about 500 meters off the coast of Gabon and all the passengers and crew, inclu- ding 18 Zambian National team players, died in the crash. No country has ever had to overcome such a tremen- dous loss of its national team. However, for Zambia there was no another option but to move on. The captain of that team, Kalusha Bwalya, who was not onboard the ill-fated flight as he was playing for his team at the time, PSV Eindhoven, puts all of his efforts into rebuilding a new team and professionalizing the federation, becoming coach of the national team and later president of the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ). Eighteen years and some months later, destiny winks back at Zambia: Gabon, just 2 kilometres from the place of the acci- dent, Zambia becomes champion of Africa for the first time in its history. The victory comes after a long penalty shoot-out. It was written: there were 18 penalty shots. THE FILMS Mundial. Gra o wszystko (Mundial: The Highest Stakes) Poland, 2014, Michal Bielawski / 90 mins (O.V.S.E.) A Polish documentary that recreates that country’s most important soccer moment, which coincided in time with the beginning of the end of Communism in Poland. The '82 World Cup, with the country under Martial Law, it was a dark year: censorship, troops on the streets, jails overflowing with members of the political opposition… Despite it all, the Polish people found a thread of hope in watching their National team on television. Enjoying the goals scored by Boniek and Smolarek, the extraordinary agility of Broad, Kupcewicz and Buncol, the spectacular goalkeeping skills of Młynarczyk. It was only 90 minutes, but those were the only moments when they could escape the cruel reality of their lives. By means of the com- bination of an impressive variety of archive images along with present-day interviews and animation, the film narrates the fascinating and untold story of the relationship between the sport and politics in one of Poland’s darkest periods. Coach Zoran and his African Tigers (El entrenador Zoran y los Tigres del Sol) United Kingdom, 2013, Sam Benstead / 75 mins (O.V.S.E.) South Sudan gained its independence in July 2011, following over 50 years of civil war. Although the memories of victims of violence still persist, this new nation seeks to achieve a place in the world of football by establishing its first national team. The man in charge of this task is the Serb Zoran Djordjevic; a veteran, dynamic and very ambitious coach. The film follows the team over its first year, from the search for new players to the purchase of the mascot - the Champion sheep – to their first international matches. Zoran’s aggressive and perhaps even dictatorial style causes conflict with the Football Federation and several politicians. While the euphoria of independence abates, the team is affected by infighting, malaria and the economic crisis that also affects the new state. What follows is an original and dark comedy portrait of the birth of a nation. THE FILMS We Must Go (Debemos ir) United States, 2014, Dave LaMattina y Chad N. Wakeri / 90 mins (O.V.S.E.) An American, full-length documentary that chronicles the journey of prestigious coach Bob Bradley at the helm of the Egyptian National team in their attempt to qualify for Brazil 2014, marked by the emer- gence of the so-called Arab revolution that ended the Mubarak’s dictatorship and by the tragedy of Port Said, where more than seventy fans of the Al Ahly football team were assassinated during a match in repression for these fans’ participation in the protests against the dictatorship. Sons of Ben United States, 2015, Jeffrey C. Bell / 90 mins (O.V.S.E.) In 1996, the first season of the MLS, that in which Philadelphia, in spite of being one of the most traditional sports franchise cities in the country, was not awarded a team in the competition. Ten years later, Philadelphia still didn’t have a team, so a small group of die-hard soccer fans started what for many was considered pure madness: to form a supporters club for a team that did not exist.