Category: Portland Timbers

It only follows that the world’s most popular sport should have a lot of movies made about it. But perhaps because soccer is still something of a novelty game in the United States, Hollywood isn’t making them.

Fortunately, it’s not that hard to find soccer movies, and even more fortunately there are the good folks behind the traveling film festival “Kicking + Screening” making it possible to see them.

“K+S” is a three-year old endeavor marrying the love of cinema with the love of the beautiful game.  It’s been held in New York and Liverpool and Amsterdam and India, and it arrives here this week with a program built around Saturday’s  epochal match between the Portland Timbers and their eternal antagonists the Seattle Sounders. 

The theme of the program is, naturally, soccer rivalries, and the program consists of two nights of two films each.  On Thursday, there are two films about the passionate teams and fans of South America, the feature film “Argentine Football Club” about the great enemy teams from Buenos Aires, Boca Juniors and River Plate, and the short “Loucos de Futebol” about a lesser-known rivalry in Brazil.  On Friday, the focus is North America, with the feature film “Gringos at the Gate,” about the rivalry between the national teams of the United States and Mexico, and the short “A Most Improbable Life,” about a Mexican immigrant finding his love for the game in the USA.  

On each night, there will be post-screening discussions with one of the filmmakers or another expert, including, on Thursday, Portland Timbers (and former Seattle Sounders) forward Mike Fucito. 

Screenings will be held at Urban Studios (935 NW Davis) tickets for each night’s screenings are $13. 

The festival launches on Wednesday night with “K + S Word,” a literary event featuring readings and presentation by a variety of local and national writers (including yours truly) discoursing on the subject of soccer rivalry and passion.  The event is free, but donations are encouraged, with all proceeds -- including those from a raffle of soccer collectibles and other goodies -- going to Operation Pitch Invasion, a Portland not-for-profit charity dedicated to building, restoring and maintaining soccer fields in the parks and schools.  (Yet more full disclosure: I serve on the board of OPI.)