Soccer, er, football fans rejoice: just in time for the World Cup, this champion lineup of films celebrates the world’s most popular sport. Spanning pitches from Europe and Asia to Africa and the Middle East, these eclectic tales go well beyond the standard sports-movie clichés of adversity and triumph, crossing and subverting genres to examine the intersection of sport and culture. Stories of women who risk everything to participate (OFFSIDE, FREEDOM FIELDS), Shaolin monks who bring kung fu to the field (SHAOLIN SOCCER), and one man’s obsessive quest to revolutionize the sport (INFINITE FOOTBALL) illustrate the power and worldwide impact of a phenomenon that is truly more than a game.
Directed by Wim Wenders • 1972 • West Germany
Starring Arthur Brauss, Kai Fischer, Erika Pluhar
Adapted from a novel by Nobel Prize winner Peter Handke, Wim Wenders’s first theatrical feature crosses Hitchcock with Kafka for an arresting study of existential ennui, violence, and the lure of Amer...
Directed by Jacques Tati and Sophie Tatischeff • 1978 • France
In 1978, Jacques Tati traveled to the city of Bastia on the island of Corsica to document the exuberant lead-up to what would ultimately be a memorably muddy, waterlogged match between the hometown heroes and their visiting Dutch riv...
Directed by Bill Forsyth • 1980 • United Kingdom
Starring John Gordon Sinclair, Dee Hepburn, Clare Grogan
The breakout sophomore feature by Bill Forsyth is a lovably offbeat romantic comedy that brought renewed attention to the Scottish film industry. Gregory (John Gordon Sinclair) is an awkward...
Directed by Khyentse Norbu • 1999 • Bhutan
Starring Orgyen Tobgyal, Neten Chokling, Jamyang Lodro
Soccer fever seizes the most unlikely of places in this supremely gentle, warmhearted tale of tradition and change, the first feature film made in Bhutan. After fleeing Tibet, two young boys (Kunsan...
Directed by Corneliu Porumboiu • 2014 • Romania
Starring Adrian Porumboiu, Corneliu Porumboiu
Cinema doesn’t get much more minimalist—or more casually inventive—than this unique experimental documentary from Corneliu Porumboiu, which consists solely of a videotape of a snowy 1988 Bucharest socce...
Directed by Szabolcs Hajdu • 2014 • Hungary, Slovakia
Starring Isaach De Bankolé, Răzvan Vasilescu, Orsolya Török-Illyés
In this tantalizingly enigmatic neo-western, Francis (Isaach de Bankolé), a mysterious soccer player from the Ivory Coast, turns up in a small Hungarian town. Escaping from th...
Directed by Corneliu Porumboiu • 2018 • Romania
Starring Laurentiu Ginghina
Romanian New Wave leader Corneliu Porumboiu (12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST) directs this at once hilarious and poignant look at an ordinary man’s extraordinary ambitions. Ever since a leg fracture ended his aspirations of beco...
Directed by Naziha Arebi • 2018 • Libya, United Kingdom
An inspiring love letter to sisterhood and the power of sports, this courageous, gorgeously shot documentary from Naziha Arebi follows three women as they attempt to establish the first female soccer team in postrevolution Libya—a dream met...
Directed by Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt • 2018 • Portugal
Starring Carloto Cotta, Cleo Tavares, Anabela Moreira
When bighearted but dim-witted Portuguese soccer hunk Diamantino (Carloto Cotta) blows it in the World Cup finals, he goes from superstar to laughing stock overnight. His shelt...
