Lisa Barros D'Sa & Glenn Leyburn: "We feel the energy between Athletic Club and its community"

The 2025 Thinking Football Film Festival kicked off on Monday at the Sala BBK Hall with the long-awaited European premiere of ‘Saipan’.

The film recounts the famous clash between Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy during Ireland’s training camp ahead of the 2002 World Cup. Coming to Europe after its success in Toronto, the screening filled Bilbao's Sala BBK and was followed by a Q&A with directors Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn.

At the end of their Q&A, Lisa Barros D'Sa and Glenn Leyburn, the film's directors, dedicated some emotional words to Athletic Club.

They said: "We have felt all that energy between the club and the community. At Athletic there are things that are more important than money. There is love and a very special ethos."

Prior to the screening of the film, Vanessa Fernández, on behalf of EITB, presented the Thinking Football 2024 Audience Award to the directors of 'COPA 71', Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine.

Athletic Club's vice-president, Nerea Ortiz, was in charge of delivering the inaugural speech of this 13th edition of Thinking Football.

"If Athletic is much more than a football club, so is its festival," she said.

"That is why we wanted to choose Nabila's photograph as this year's image. A girl footballer from Pakistan who uses the ball as a tool to collectively fight for women's rights.

"Someone told us that the poster was "not very Athletic". How wrong they were. Nabila is Athletic, as is the act of solidarity with the Palestinian people that we experienced last Saturday at San Mamés. An act of solidarity and a cry for humanity and peace."
 

Thinking Football Film Festival Day 2

On Tuesday October 7, the festival’s schedule intensifies with four screenings that explore different perspectives on football, from collective memory to the sport’s transformative power. The day's special guests are Liverpool legend Sammy Lee and Two Tribes director Andy Wells.

The day will start at 11:00 with the screening of ‘Copa 71’ - winner of last year’s Thinking Football’s Audience Award -, the first of the two special morning sessions organised by the Athletic Club Foundation for local schools. The second special morning session will take place on Friday, World Mental Health Day, with the screening of 'Tigrar' - winner of the 2022 Audience Award.

At 18:00, the festival will take audiences on a different kind of journey. First, 'Stuck On You: The Football Sticker Story’' will explore the fascinating culture of football stickers, a phenomenon that has shaped generations and remains a childhood ritual and a passion for collectors worldwide.

Immediately after, we'll premiere a new episode of the ‘Greenland’ series, this time dedicated to Venice. This visually striking piece reflects how football can engage in dialogue with art, history and cultural identity in one of the most unique cities on the planet.

The highlight of the day arrives at 20:00 with ‘Two Tribes’, a documentary that revisits Liverpool in the 1980s, when the city’s economic decline coincided with the sporting triumphs of its two clubs, Everton and Liverpool.

The film explores how football and politics became intertwined in a turbulent decade, and how the rivalry between the two teams also became a mirror of social realities. The screening will feature two special guests: Sammy Lee and Andy Wells, who will share their first-hand experiences with the audience.