Ode to Sports

An expedition to the dirty abyss of professional sports. The award winning investigative journalist Benjamin Best (CNN Journalist of the Year 2011) takes a global look behind the scenes at the colourful world of sports and exposes the bitter taste behind the multi-billion sports business.

The film intertwines Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal's lives with their famed 2008 Wimbledon championship - an epic match so close and so reflective of their competitive balance that, in the end, the true winner was the sport itself.

Jim Plunkett never backed down from adversity. Despite being a major high school recruit, Plunkett’s freshman year at Stanford was a letdown, and his coach tried to replace him at quarterback. He refused to be taken out and eventually became a standout at Stanford, winning the Rose Bowl and Heisman his senior year. The start to his pro career was not very different from his turn in college, starting off slow, being traded to several teams, and eventually landing a backup position with the Raiders. It was only when the starting quarterback got injured that Plunkett was thrust into the role, and ended up leading the Raiders to two Super Bowl victories.

On June 11, 2013, Sebastien de la Cruz stepped onto center court, dressed in his traditional mariachi charro suit, to sing the national anthem before Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and the Miami Heat. Sebastien’s performance ignited racial tweets and hate-filled comments, but when he returned for Game 4 to sing once again, the cheers in the stands turned from “Go Spurs Go” to “Go Sebastien Go!”

Jennifer Bricker excels in many sports, but her first love was gymnastics. Inspired by Romanian gymnast Dominique Moceanu, part of the 1996 Olympic gold-medalist team, Jennifer became a state champion and Junior Olympian in tumbling despite being born without legs. And when Jennifer turned 16, her adoptive parents revealed that Dominique Moceanu was more than just her hero.

Figure skater Surya Bonaly is most remembered for her amazing one-bladed back flip at the 1998 Winter Olympics, being the only skater to ever complete one in competition at the Olympics. Despite landing the flip on one skate, the judges ruled the move illegal. Bonaly did not medal, but the champion did go out on her own terms, a true “Rebel on Ice.”

The director accompanies the German women's national soccer team.

Píseň o sletu – I. část – Mládí

Píseň o sletu – II. část – Bratři a sestry

Valo V chronicles three years in the ongoing history of rollerblading, from backyard bowls in Mexico to the architectural wonderland of Barcelona and along thousands of stateside miles to spare. V showcases the pioneering skaters of the Valo Brand who continue to revolutionize our sport, a tradition of Valo since it was founded in 2003. Celebrate a decade of Valo with Jon Julio, Alex Broskow, Erik Bailey, Brandon Smith, Victor Arias, Soichiro Kanashima, Cossimo Tassone, Gav Drumm, Ross Kuhn, Dean Coward, and the rest of the Valo family with V, a film by Ivan Narez.

More than a film about football, this documentary is the portrait of a passion. Through several testimonies, what is shown is the feeling of the fan of Peñarol and what he is capable of doing for the team of his loves. From the largest flag in the world to the most spectacular receptions, including tattoos, anecdotes, promises and much more.

Coming off the back of a disastrous 2022/23 season, Chelsea will be hoping for a fresh start this season under the management of Argentine Mauricio Pochettino. With no European football to look forward to, the focus will be firmly on the league and domestic cup competitions as an influx of exciting young footballers such as Christopher Nkunku and Nicolas Jackson will look to combine with last seasons signings of Mykhailo Mudryk and Enzo Fernández. With a number of experienced players leaving the club, hopes will be high that 2023/24 will start a turnaround in fortunes and goals - the latter being so sorely lacking last season.

In a meditation on the meaning behind sports in a Post-Apartheid South Africa, three young girls muse on their hopes and dreams as aspiring Drum Majorettes.

Documentary about the football ultras subculture in Germany.

The newsreel series Jornal Português (1938-1951) was produced for the Secretariat of National Propaganda (SPN/SNI) by the "Portuguese Newsreel Society" (SPAC), under the technical supervision of António Lopes Ribeiro. It was conceived and employed as part of the propaganda machinery of Salazar's regime. Screened in cinema theatres prior to the main feature film, each issue of Jornal had approximately ten minutes in length and covered a variety of official government acts, national political news, major sports events and other assorted social and cultural affairs. Jornal Português is not only an indispensable document for the history of Estado Novo's propaganda, but also an unparalleled audiovisual archive of 1940s Portugal.

About the political controversy surrounding the Argentine World Cup football (1978).

Almost a decade since the release of "Lil Bastards" Wildcats and IS Design have teamed up to produce "Still Bastards". The sequel to the video that kick started the Wildcats legacy.

Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color line in 1947, but it took another generation of Black and Latino players to make the sport truly open to all. Playing in remote minor-league towns, these were the men who, before they could live their big-league dreams, first had to beat Jim Crow.

Images of crowd simulation are faced with testimonies from Liverpool Football Club’s supporters who recall their experience marked by a tragic event: the Hillsborough stadium disaster in 1989, which changed the nature of the game of football.

A documentary of the German national soccer team’s 2006 World Cup experience that changed the face of modern Germany.