Two classics at Thinking Football

After a weekend break, Thinking Football is back with a vengeance this Monday, presenting two real treasures of football cinema: ‘Volver a vivir’ (Live again), directed by Mario Camus, and ‘Looking for Eric’, by the English director Ken Loach.

Unfortunately, Paul Laverty, the scriptwriter of 'Looking for Eric', was unable to attend the event as his flight was cancelled due to bad weather. In his absence, Galder Reguera, director of the festival, and Carlos Marañón, a writer and one of the most authoritative voices in football cinema, took part in the post-screening Q&A.

‘Looking for Eric' (2009) is considered one of the best football films of all time. Directed by renowned English filmmaker Ken Loach (Nuneaton, 1936), it won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in the year of its release.

The film has the unmistakable stamp of Ken Loach and his regular scriptwriter Paul Laverty. A style that, under the label of social cinema, recreates stories full of humanity. Eric Cantona plays himself masterfully in this fictional film about the importance of friendship in times of crisis.

Carlos Marañón and Galder Reguera spoke about all of this in the discussion following the screening. Marañón highlighted the presence of football in Ken Loach's other films, such as ‘Kes’ (1969) and ‘My Name is Joe’ (1998).

This presence is no coincidence and is due to the importance that this sport has in society. As Marañón said, "football is a very important part of people's lives, and Ken Loach's films talk about people, so it is normal that football has such an important presence in his films".

Beforehand, at five o'clock in the afternoon, the audience enjoyed one of the great works of the renowned director Mario Camus, creator of such notable films like ‘Los santos inocentes’ and ‘La colmena’.  
 

Tuesday, final day with ‘Hamaika andra zurigorri’ (Eleven Red-and-White women) and ‘Weekend Rebels’
 

To round off Thinking Football 2024, there will be a double film session with a special Athletic Club flavour.

At 17:00 the documentary ‘Hamaika andra zurigorri’ (Eleven Red-and-White women) will be screened. It's a film in which some thirty pioneering women who have paved the way in different fields at Athletic tell their stories.

And at 19:00, we have 'Weekend Rebels', a beautiful film based on a real case about a child with asperger's. It is both moving and helps to understand the lives of people with autism. The father and son protagonists of the film will participate in the discussion after the screening.