The winning film of the festival was a local production by Carlos Sanchez-Libre and Josep Badell, ”From the Streets to the Fields”, 80 minutes long, shot at the World Cup of football in South Africa 2010, a film with many layers, a focus on social conditions in the post-apartheid country, personalised by three kids who got to meet their idols, including a poor, black boy, who meets Barca’s Iniesta before the player becomes the hero of the tournament scoring the decisive goal for Spain. Yes, in the spirit of Mandela, and simple in construction the film is, but it catches you emotionally, and I dare say that the kids show playing quality, when they are in touch with the stars, Luis Suarez from Uruguay is another one. Parallel to the World Cup games, the kids have their own matches which are fascinating to watch clips from. Joy and playfulness.

Another prize-winner, in the category short film, was American ”Aquadettes” by Zackary Canepari and Drea Cooper, 10 mins. long, with a wonderful, strong old woman as protagonist. She suffers from MS but has decided not to give up or rather give in to what the normal medical industry offers. She swims with other women, synchronized swimming, and she takes marihuana.

The jury decided to give the Special Jury Prize to ”Hannah” by Sergio Cruz, 5 mins. long, wordless, with a mongol young woman expressing herself through swimming and skiing. The film was awarded for its lyrical tone and fine camerawork.

http://www.bcnsportsfilm.org/en/index.php

The Barcelona Sports Film festival is part of the FICTS, Fédération Internationale Cinema et Télévision Sporttifs. This organisation includes festivals all over the world, has its office in Milano, and has set up rules for the festivals that operate with a no-criticism of the Olympic idea and its implementation – the Games themselves. From what I saw as a jury member, a strong impact is put on the social power of sports, as activities that can change the life situation of for instance disabled people.

In a workshop arranged by the Nikita Distribution, the leading force behind the festival, the filmmaker Sergi Agusti told about his experience making the film ”One Goal” about one-legged football players in Sierra Leone. He made a one-hour version for Catalan TV3, and after that a 24 mins. film that has travelled the world, winning several awards. He is now in the process of enlarging his filming to other parts of Africa raising funding for this campaign outside the traditional sources of public television.

Sport festivals… Bruno Delaye, French, one of the speakers at the workshop, organises two of them in Biarritz. One in December devoted to films about skiing, and one in July for surfing. The latter, with outdoor screenings, ”sur grand écran”, could gather from 300 to 8/10.000 spectators (!), with a general audience that loves to watch talented people ”faire des images”, as Delaye said. 15 films are selected for each festival, 50 are submitted for selection.

But, films about sport are as films not different from films about nature, historical films, personal films etc. They have to be made from a strong motivation and a commitment, the filmmakers must know and show their storytelling skills, they have to inform and surprise and be emotional, was the banal content of my intervention t the workshop.

http://www.bcnsportsfilm.org/en/index.php

www.sergiagusti.com

It is new, it is not easy to get an audience, but it is there, said Barbara Destefanis, the driving force behind the festival and the enthusiastic and committed director of the Nikita Distribution company, that manages a sportsfilm online platform that offers 30 films, some in a section that are for free, some sectioned on a cheap vod basis, and one section for professionals who want to acquire films for broadcast or festivals.

To make a sport film festival in Barcelona, the city that hosts the world’s best football team, is not easy either. And to make it in the three days that for the citizens were the first days of summer, another challenge. But it was made with screenings at the projection hall of the Olympic Museum at Montjuic, next to the Olympic Stadium, and in the warehouse El Corte Inglès that includes cultural events. The opening and closing sessions that I attended at the Museum (the jury members had seen the films before arriving to the festival) were well attended with a strong support to the festival team and its achievement.

Destefanis also told me that the festival has visited prisons in Catalunya to screen some of the festival films, with good success.

www.sportsfilm.tv

www.nikita-distribution.com

The third edition of a Barcelona sports film festival runs the coming three days. Around 70 films dealing with sport will be presented, 25 of them in competititon, divided into different catagories, from animation films to short fiction to documentaries to ”sport and solidarity” etc. Approximately 30 countries are represented.

The opening took place yesterday at the Olympic Museum next to the Olympic Stadium where Barcelona hosted the games 20 years ago. It was therefore very natural that ”Barcelona`92. Donde Todo Empezó” was one of three opening films, directed by Michael Robinson for Canal+.

I am in the jury and will report further on the films and awards saturday after the closing ceremony saturday night. Needless to say, however, that for a football freak, member of FC Barcelona, it is the right place to be right now!

Photo: Thomas Olivarius Fausto, Danish upcoming football talent. Photo by courtesy of his parents.

http://www.bcnsportsfilm.org/en/index.php

Poland is a big country with a strong tradition for festivals and an impressive national production of documentaries, many of them in the short format. I had never heard about it before, but reading the site there is also a well programmed documentary festival in Gdansk. Edition number 10 closes today. There are many Polish films in the competition section and a Polish as well as an international Panorama section. Good films like Piotr Stasik’s Last Day of Summer (photo), Romanian Anca Damian’s Crulic, Magdalena Pieta’s Planet Kirsan and Srdan Sarenac’  festival hit Village Without Women are at the programme. The idea of the festival in Gdansk has a political, historical reference:

Work is a special good and privilege of a human being. It should be the basis for dignified family life and stable social situation. Yet, so often in today’s world work, and its lack, become the cause of human tragedies and social conflicts. Discrimination, violation of law and treatment of human beings at work as objects more and more often threaten the development of societies and indirectly undermine trust in democracy and moral order.

It is in Gdansk that working people started the fight for dignity and decent working conditions against the system that was destroying these values. This is how “Solidarnosc” came to being. It is important to continue the discussion on this subject here, with the participation of NSZZ “Solidarność”, in an international group and on many levels – scientific, artistic, social and political. August 1980 needs not only to be remembered but also wisely continued. This is the origin of our Festival.

We want to accomplish it through, among others, presentation of works of world cinema and the debate about the role and significance of human being in the workplace – in the context of global economy, uniting Europe, on the background of company mergers, technological boom, but also bureaucracy and economy oligarchy.

http://www.gdanskdocfilm.pl/