{"id":77438,"date":"2026-05-14T13:52:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T11:52:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.krakowfilmfestival.pl\/?p=77438"},"modified":"2026-05-14T13:52:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T11:52:47","slug":"film-football-fan-zone-beneath-the-wawel-castle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.krakowfilmfestival.pl\/en\/film-football-fan-zone-beneath-the-wawel-castle\/","title":{"rendered":"Film & Football Fan Zone Beneath the Wawel Castle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This year’s open-air cinema programme is a genuine treat for sports fans, particularly football lovers. Cinema has long been drawn to stories from the world of the game: tales featuring stadium superstars as well as quieter narratives of all-consuming passion and equally powerful sporting emotion. Join us at the Film & Football Fan Zone beneath Wawel Castle for nine outstanding films perfectly suited to a World Cup summer. Admission to all screenings is free.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’ll revisit the emotions experienced by political prisoners in Poland who awaited the national team’s appearance at the 1982 World Cup in Spain and go behind the scenes with the Polish squad during Euro 2012. We’re going to cheer on the residents of a village in Iceland who rebuilt their football pitch and then admire the veterans of The Corinthians for their fight to secure FIFA’s recognition of women’s football. Each screening will be preceded by films made by participants of the KFO Film Club workshop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ball and the Pitch<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We’re playing at home!” – every fan knows the emotional charge of that cry. It signifies more than just the venue. It’s the deep attachment to club colours and the feelings invested in a team. In the case of a pitch on the coast of Iceland that has been abandoned for 25 years, it sounds like the fulfilment of a dream.The Home Game<\/em><\/strong> (dir. Smari Gunn, Logi Sigursveinsson) is a story of determination, but also a reminder that football is sometimes a relay race passed from one generation to the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Ball<\/em><\/strong> (dir. Salad Hilowle) is a humorous investigative documentary devoted to the supporting heroes of the footballing world. What happens when the camera turns away from the pitch itself? We are drawn into the rituals of referees and linesmen, observe the meticulous labour of technical crews and photographers in pursuit of the perfect shot. From up close we study the spectators themselves while the big and small emotions alike combine to create an atmosphere every bit as exciting as the action on the field. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women’s Footballers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helen Tither’sThe Corinthians: We Were the Champions<\/em><\/strong> recounts the true story of football’s first rebels: Manchester’s Corinthians Ladies FC, who defied the English Football Association’s ban on women participating in official competitions, defeated Germany in the European Cup, and won the unofficial world championship in 1960. The story of how this uncompromising group of young women confronted an entirely male establishment is told by the surviving players themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A heartening tale situated somewhere between football, display of dexterity, and feminism, All I Need Is a Ball<\/em><\/strong> by Elena Molina follows Spain’s undisputed freestyle football champion, who nevertheless finds the solitude of individual success profoundly unsatisfying. Her ambition is to build a community of women freestyle footballers. In Paloma’s story, what matters is not simply her own technical accomplishments, but her ability to unlock the potential of other women and support their visibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Men’s Footballers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A football-and-piano comedy of mistaken identities. In the Belgian comedy The Little Prodigy<\/em><\/strong> (dir. Xavier Diskeuve) a boy diligently preparing for entrance exams to one of Europe’s leading music schools must briefly abandon his metronome, études, and scales in order to impersonate a promising Georgian football star.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Near a Tunisian village on the Algerian border, brothers Abdallah and Mohammed come across a solitary donkey – headphones clamped over its ears, bundles of white powder strapped to its back. The boys decide to transport the cargo home… In Nefta Football Club<\/em><\/strong>, Yves Piat approaches the grave realities of North Africa from an unexpectedly playful angle, filling his story with humour, warmth, lightness… and superb young performers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Futnet is a typical Czech sport. Almost every town has amateur futnet tournaments organised from time to time, and the sport itself is only part of the event. In a small village, on a beautiful summer Saturday, another tournament is starting. The players in Friendly Sport Meeting<\/em><\/strong> (dir. Adam Koloman Rybanský) are competing, a haunch of meat is slowly turning on the spit, everyone is drinking beer. Monday feels appropriately far away, so there’s no worry to be had. At least until a Romani team called the Jamaicans arrives on the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Championships<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The outstanding documentarian and award-winning cinematographer Marcin Koszałka, in You’ll Be a Legend, Man<\/em><\/strong>, goes behind the scenes of Euro 2012, observing the Polish national team during the European Championships. Koszałka’s camera accompanies the players around the clock, gaining access to places – and capturing moments – no TV broadcaster had ever previously been able to show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 1982 World Cup in Spain marked the last great success of the Polish national team at football’s premier tournament. For a brief moment, everyone forgot that the spectacle unfolded against the harsh backdrop of martial law, censorship, soldiers on the streets, and prisons filled with opposition activists. Michał Bielawski’s Mundial. The Highest Stakes<\/em><\/strong> is a documentary account of sport and politics under the martial law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Film & Football Fan Zone:<\/p>\n\n\n\n