Issue

Fields of Play

July 2026

In sync with the FIFA 2026 World Cup, Fields of Play explores the field as a space of collective movement, unity, and belonging — where bodies come together through play. We invite films that see play as choreography, ritual, teamwork, and shared imagination. Whether competitive, challenging, joyous, or improvised, play becomes a way of gathering, testing limits, forming bonds, and moving as one. From stadiums and street games to animal rituals, ecological encounters, and everyday acts of coordination, this issue celebrates the fields where we meet, move, and belong.

L'oncle (The Uncle)

FILM France 2024
Maëva Leila Youbi

Every evening, Raphaëlle, a six-year-old girl fan of «l'OM», prays for her father Ali, to come home early from his restaurant. One evening, he makes the promise to take her to the Vélodrome Stadium on the next day, forgetting for one evening his environment and its dangers...

Zen Basketball (2020)

FILM CA 2020
Mike Hoolboom

In a series of simple frames, the often misunderstood practice of Zen takes shape as basketball bliss. Now in retirement, the greatest defensive player of the amateur leagues continues to practice on a remote island, far from the madding crowds. His techniques and dedication undergo continual refine

És a Nossa Fé (2004)

FILM Portugal 2004
Edgar Pêra

És A Nossa Fé a film about Soccer (Futebol) Fans. Specially from two Portuguese clubs: Sporting, a big one, and Leixões a small one, that were slected for the final of the Portugal's Cup 2002 (David against Goliath), and also the adepts of the Portuguese selection that were defe

Field Work - World Cup: Gene

FILM Brazil 2014
Alexis Gambis

Mayana Zatz is the Director of the Human Genome Research Center at the Biological Institute of the University of São Paulo and a famous figure in Brazilian Science. Her work with stems cells and genomes looks to find treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy and other genetic disorders.

SISTEMA (2026)

FILM Mexico 2026
EYIBRA

SISTEMA traces the unsettling proximity between football, militarism, and masculinity, transforming the exhibition space into a training ground where power is rehearsed and the body disciplined. Drawing from Campo Marte in Mexico City—where military ritual and the national sport coexist—

The Holy Game (2024)

FILM Canada 2024
Brent Hodge Chris Kelly

Beyond the Vatican walls, young seminarians from around the world compete in the Clericus Cup soccer tournament while preparing for the priesthood. Through sport, friendship, and spiritual reflection, the film explores faith, sacrifice, calling, and what it means to dedicate one's life to serving ot

Field Work: Temple

FILM Brazil 2014
Alexis Gambis

With the World Cup having a massive impact on Brazil, Temple explores the science and cultural heritage of stadiums: though products of cutting edge architecture and engineering technology, stadiums are places where emotions and memories are shared; where communities from around the world gather to

ARENA (2018)

FILM Austria 2018
Björn Kämmerer

The term "arena" refers to the genius loci: the grounds on which the competition is carried out, hence, where the spectacle is redeemed. In Björn Kämmerer's film, this ARENA remains hidden. Or, in other words: it becomes the object of a positioning. Rather than the oval, the stage, or othe

Campo Experimental

FILM Brazil 2014
Alexis Gambis

From Rio de Janeiro's beaches to the Amazon wildlife crossing though the urban jungle of Sao Paolo, Campo Experimental explores the state of science and art in Brazil as the World Cup takes over the country. Soccer becomes not only an obsession but also a distraction, a fear, a hope and the platform

La cancha (The Court)

FILM Canada 2023
Mustafa Uzuner

La Cancha is a film about basketball, but also about the choreography of looking: the rhythm of shot and counter-shot, the precision of movement, and the quiet art of the backdoor cut. Filmed over four years on a public court in Montreal, the film observes a space shaped by bodies, time, weather, me

Lines Drawn (2023)

FILM Canada 2023
Chris Kennedy

Shot in two downtown Toronto parks over the course of the pandemic, Lines Drawn looks at various measures of persuasion, containment and control that were brought to bear over the course of the City's attempts to curtail the spread of COVID-19. Throughout the pandemic, space was defined by how the s

Spectators (2013)

FILM Scotland 2013
Ross Hogg

'Spectators' is an observational animation that inverts the expected focus of a football match, turning attention to those on the periphery. The film investigates social interaction and human behaviour, revealing the diversity of character found among football spectators, which can often become obsc

XI (2022)

FILM Croatia, Germany 2022
Vuk Jevremovic

Three masters of football. They can perform wonders during the match and score impossible goals, but what goes on in their minds when they are about to take a penalty kick?

Field Work Brazil: Amor

FILM Brazil, USA 2014
Alexis Gambis

From Rio de Janeiro's beaches to the Amazon wildlife crossing though the urban jungle of Sao Paolo, FIELD WORK explores the state of science and art in Brazil as the World Cup takes over the country. Soccer becomes not only an obsession but also a distraction, a fear, a hope and the platform to disc

Saturday (2015)

FILM United Kingdom 2015
Mike Forshaw

April 15th 1989. One game of football is about to affect Liam and the city of Liverpool forever. SATURDAY is a fictional account of how the Hillsborough stadium disaster – which claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool supporters – unfolded for one family back home in Merseyside. Director/Write

Run Like We (2023)

FILM United Kingdom 2024
Rhys Aaron Lewis

It's the 2012 London Olympics and the whole world is going crazy for the fastest man on the planet: Usain Bolt. Everyone apart from Alvin, an awkward 14 year-old who hates sports and constantly disappoints his Jamaican father, Lester, an ex-athlete who can't understand why his son is "so soft". So w

Field Work: Header

FILM Brazil 2014
Alexis Gambis

The World Cup has drawn more than rabid soccer fans to Brazil. A team of filmmakers are on the ground in Rio de Janeiro documenting the science behind the games, including an exoskeletal kick-off, the genetics of competition, and even the biochemistry of diehard spectators. Read Popular Science arti

King's Court (2025)

FILM Canada 2025
Serville Poblete

SK and Marley grew up together in Toronto's downtown neighbourhood of Bleecker Street. King's Court offers a fast-paced look at their friendship, families and their journeys into manhood. The National Film Board short film blurs the line between documentary and fiction, immersing viewers in the raw

17 (2017)

FILM Jordan 2017
Widad Shafakoj

in a landmark moment for Jordan, a group of teenage girls is brought together to form the country's first official U-17 Women's National Football Team ahead of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, hosted on home soil. Entering the tournament as hosts rather than qualifiers, the young players face relent

Oh Baby! (2019)

FILM United States 2019
Meghann Artes

More and more often these days there is as much science as there is miracle in how we all come to be. Oh Baby! is an entertaining and imaginative interpretation of what goes into the making of a human being. Start with a dash of Busby Berkeley dance spectacle, add a pinch of wacky Rube Goldberg engi

BOOKANIMA: Martial Arts (2021)

FILM Korea 2021
Shon Kim

BOOKANIMA is an experimental animation project that breathes cinematic life into books. The term "BOOKANIMA" is a portmanteau of "Book" and "Anima" (Latin for "soul" or "motion"), encapsulating the project's vision of exploring the intersection between literature and film through animated motion.

Home Games (2018)

FILM Ukraine, France, Poland 2018
Alisa Kovalenko

A season in the life of Alina, a poor 20-year-old girl from Kyiv who has a chance to be saved by football, but must also rescue her young siblings. A hard look at the reality of broken homes and strong women.

900 Footballs (2020)

FILM Finland 2020
Sophia Ehrnrooth

900 Footballs is a short documentary about creativity, resilience, and the unexpected teamwork that emerges when plans fall apart. When a storm threatens a football-themed art installation on the outskirts of Rome, Finnish visual artist Sophia Ehrnrooth finds unexpected help from a group of immigran

David (Por Ahora)

FILM Mexico 2024
Humberto Flores Jáuregui

A group of children in the Mayan village of San José Oriente spend their days riding motorcycles and playing soccer, but one of them, David, has other plans. Short film made during the Playlab Films Creator's Lab 2023 in Yucatán, México, with the guidance of Apichatpong Weeraset

Litau (2007)

FILM United States 2007
Dani Leventhal ReStack

A tapestry of images and sounds. Tango dancing. A conversation about heaven and hell, with illustrations. Horses nuzzle. A woman reclines. Silent soccer. Street entertainers play classical music. Travel is mysterious and sometimes fraught.

Décorps (2024)

FILM France 2024
Marion Lasserre

Décorps translates the biometric data of martial arts athletes — heart rate, temperature, EEG waves, gesture dynamics — into a 3D animation that moves from point to line to body to fractal. The body assembles itself from its own mathematics, then exceeds it. What remains is not ab

La Lucha (The Fight)

FILM Cuba 2019
Matthew Tan

The film offers a rare glimpse into the Cuban experience, paralleling a day in the lives of two boxers in Havana, one at the start of his competitive career and the other at his end. The former is 7-year-old Daniel who dreams of becoming a national boxing star, and the latter is Evelio, a 45-year-ol

This Means More (2019)

FILM France 2019
Nicolas Gourault

Simulated images of crowds are compared with accounts from Liverpool FC supporters, who recount their experience marked by a tragic event: the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, when 96 people lost their lives, which changed the nature of football. A crowd simulation software serves as a tool for explor

Kopfball (2008)

FILM Austria 2008
Eva Hausberger

"When the look on a face forebodes its reason, then this look becomes the mirror of fantasy." (Béla Balázs) - Where do you still have the possibility to openly show your emotions and excitement, if not in sports and which sport would be better for this than football? The film features

Z.O. - Eastern Zone (2023)

FILM Italy 2023
Loris G. Nese

Baby Girl spends his days with Cookie and Banana in a soccer fans' association. The discovery of a box full of firecrackers leads them to a stunt, behind which lies an order from upstairs: organized crime to which the three teenagers' families are linked. Yet this event creates the chance of a showd

Water Sports (2024)

FILM Philippines 2024
Whammy Alcazaren

Sweaty bodies and drought-wracked landscapes collide in Whammy Alcazaren's (Bold Eagle, NYFF61) frenzied sci-fi fantasy, a tale of love and basketball, earthquakes and tsunamis, treasured pasts and dismal futures. As extreme heat burns the planet and surviving a waterless Philippines becomes increas

Volte (2017)

FILM Poland 2017
Monika Kotecka Karolina Poryzala

Zuzia - 12, has been training vaulting for two years and has extraordinary role topping the acrobatic pyramid. She is "flyer" lifted by the stronger and more experienced vaulters-"base". Another intensive season begins. During training sessions it becomes apparent that the girl has lost some of her

Nogomet (Football)

FILM Croatia 2011
Ana Husman

While exploring the boundaries between commitment and sincere enthusiasm of football commentators and the technique of using their voice, this film reconstructs the goal called the "Hand of God" scored by Diego Armando Maradona during the match between Argentina and England at the World Championship

We Clap for Airballs

FILM United States 2024
Sai Selvarajan

We Clap For Airballs is a layered documentary - visually, expressively, and thematically -- where the basketball court is a safe space for queer and trans BIPOC people to play, feel seen, and valued by one another. With Swish, healing in community happens on the blacktop.

Last Goal Wins (2026)

FILM United States 2026
Miguel Cevallos

LAST GOAL WINS - Documentary about soccer as a lifestyle in NYC thought the eyes of the community First Touch FC - playing all year long 7am at McCarren park, Brooklyn, rain or shine! ​Showcasing how immigrants from all over the world found themselves in a lifestyle on playing soccer 2-3 times a wee

DIN 18035 (2024)

FILM Austria 2024
Simona Obholzer

A soccer pitch emerges based on a process standardized down to the last detail. Layers of sand and soil are piled up and leveled, pieces of turf are rolled out and cut to size. Nothing is left to chance. Only when nature has been cast into shape can the game begin.

Joy in People (2018)

FILM United States 2018
Oscar Hudson

Where there's people there's joy. Where's more people there's more joy. A short piece of docu-fiction about happiness, nations & massive football crowds. Covertly filmed amid the very real crowds of the European Football Championships 2016.

Desire Lines (2022)

FILM United Kingdom 2022
Duncan Cowles

Through distant observation of people walking on desire lines, a filmmaker notices a pattern in peoples tendency to cut corners, and reflects on what this might mean for the future of our planet. 'Desire Lines' are the official name given to the unofficial paths created as a consequence of erosion b

Fatoumata Diawara - 'Nsera'

FILM France 2022
Grégory Ohrel

Welcome to an imaginary world where traditions and modernity blend, ancestral memories and visionary ideas intertwine, and vibrant colors coexist with dark designs. Each scene splendidly reveals a facet of Mali or Africa: a monument in flames, reminiscent of a cultural and architectural heritage end

Still Defending (2020)

FILM United States 2020
Matthew Levine

Still Defending shows the recovery of former soccer player Drew Beckie's recovery from myocarditis, which is a heart condition. Trialing for a soccer club in Sweden, Beckie found himself in the hospital unexpectedly. Still Defending highlights Beckie's path back to the field and explores hat myocard

Fragments de Corps (2009)

FILM Canada 2009
Mélanie Saumure

Isabelle is a thirty-three year old female boxer from the south shore of Montreal. As an athlete, she inevitably relies on her body. The body is like a mechanical engine. Her gym, a cold building made of steel and concrete, is located in the industrial area of an anonymous and typical suburban town.

Einstein-Rosen (2017)

FILM Spain 2017
Olga Osorio

Summer of 1982. Teo claims he has found a wormhole. His brother Óscar does not believe him - at least not for now. Short Director Olga Osorio Screenplay Olga Osorio Producer Juan Galiñanes, Olga Osorio Produced by: Miss Movies Music: Sergio Moure de Oteyza Cinematography: Suso Bello (A

Football Brothers (2015)

FILM Poland 2015
Marcin Filipowicz

The film follows the lives of two brothers: 14-year-old Mateusz and 13-year-old Łukasz, who live in a small mountain village in the south of Poland. Like many boys their age they have a dream - they want to be great football players. The documentary presents the first and usually the toughest stage

A bola (The ball)

FILM Brazil 2025
Filipe Rafaeli

Between neighbors who promise cakes that never arrive, football games on the other side of the wall, and children who turn him into a target for mockery, Deco discovers that the greatest disability is not in his mind, but in a world that insists on treating him as an eternal spectator.

Solenopsis invicta (2025)

FILM France 2025
Victor Missud

It looks like a little paradise, this Sicilian cactus nursery where plants, insects, and a remarkable group of people form a harmonious community. In this sheltered place, the world of war and violence beyond the garden walls feels far away. "A home," one of the cactus growers calls it. Victor Missu

Sofia's Epicenter (2020)

FILM Bulgaria 2020
Maia Iotzova

The microcosmos of a courtyard, situated in the centre of Sofia, Bulgaria. The story unfolds from the perspective of one window. The film is a visual meditation on a quiet oasis in the middle of a busy city, where birds and airplanes fly, cats play and loud football matches echo in the distance.

VOY (2025)

FILM India 2025
Raj Bipin Malde

Blindness doesn't define these women-Football does. VOY captures the incredible journey of Women Blind Footballers In India, who play not with sight, but with instinct, sound, and trust. Their path hasn't been easy, but with the support of Mai Bal Bhavan, an NGO in Pune, Maharashtra, dedicated to em

Urban Cowboys (2016)

FILM Poland 2016
Pawel Ziemilski

Can a horse save a life? In Clondalkin (Dublin) that's exactly the case. In a district where there is a lot of problems and not a lot of prospects, young people face drugs, prison and the path of crime. But some of them manage to escape into an unusual hobby. They tame wild horses and become...urban

Skinny (2018)

FILM Poland 2018
Daniel Stopa

A poetic and nostalgic portrait of a childhood seen through the eyes of siblings. A beautiful, sunny afternoon. A bunch of kids is playing football in the yard. Meanwhile in an closed apartment, a boy is looking after his younger sister. Behind the closed door the boy and the girl start a game of th