Carly Samp

Kicking + Screening: The Soccer Film Festival

Last week marked the 8th Annual Kicking + Screening Soccer Film Festival in New York. This festival has long been a favorite of ours as it showcases a wide variety of films about the beautiful game each year. There’s no shortage of historical, modern, quirky, serious, or heartfelt moments and periods in the global history of soccer that have stories to be told. The folks at Kicking + Screening help give filmmakers and storytellers a platform in order to showcase their films and it’s always an awesome time.

Since the inaugural Kicking + Screening in New York in 2009, they’ve held events all over the globe due to demand. To date, festivals have been in Washington DC, Houston, North Adams (Massachusetts), Portland (Oregon), Amsterdam, London, Liverpool, Copenhagen, Rio, and Kerala (India).

This year’s festival saw four feature films – one per night – about the personal and national cultural impact of the beautiful game. Multiple short films and speakers or panels related to the feature films also take place giving those in attendance a truly immersive experience.

Attending a Kicking + Screening Film Festival should be on the bucket list of any soccer fan. There’s so much history in the game – along with modern day stories flying under the radar due to lack of television and mainstream media exposure – you’re going to come away from the event with a great understanding of what soccer means to different cultures. Here are just a few highlights from this year’s festival:

 

Categories: Just For Fun