Jock Docs: Soccer **Double Feature**

Soccer as Never Before

Dir. Hellmuth Costard (1971) 105 min.

“The real Warholian moment of football cinema is Hellmuth Costard’s film Fußball wie noch nie (Football as Never Before, 1971). A point of reference for Zidane… (…), the film takes the famously charming George Best as its subject and edits multiple camera views to produce a real-time portrait of the player singled out during the course of an entire match. Lest we miss the homoerotic subtext of football art (and football culture), the half-time interval features a cruisey bit of filmmaking as we follow Best through a narrow hallway and into what looks like the boot room. Best turns and faces the camera for nearly three minutes. He holds our gaze as long as he can, pursing his lips, looking away and then back in a seemingly overt homage to the Warholian screen test. Best strikes a deal here with the camera, inviting us to look at him when he takes the field again; shots of his socks, his shoulders and his crotch seem to go on for ever.”--Jennifer Doyle, Frieze

8:30pm

Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait

Dir. Douglas Gordon & Philippe Parreno (2006) 90 min.

Halfway between a sports documentary and a conceptual art installation, Zidane consists of a full-length soccer game (Real Madrid vs. Villareal, April 23, 2005) filmed entirely from the perspective of soccer superstar Zinedine Zidane.