Zidane - A 21st Century Portrait vs.
George Best — Football Like Never Before

Saturday, September 20
Monday, September 22
Tuesday, September 23
Admission: Free, $10 minimum
Showtimes: 10pm SATURDAY; 10:30pm MONDAY; 7:30pm TUESDAY
NOTE: the 8pm show on MONDAY has been cancelled
reservations are recommended

Hello, soccer/futbol fans who also happen to be video art fans. These screenings are your apotheosis! To everyone else, this is a beautiful rendering of The Beautiful Game. A chance to luxuriate in the essence of sport, humanity, and art(ifice).

From kickoff to final whistle, 18 cameras concentrated their focus on the legendary Zinedine Zidane, hero of the 1998 World Cup and personal hero, headbutter, Golden Ball winner of the 2006 World Cup.


The film is an existential meditation with a tastefully executed soundtrack by the band Mogwai. The film was co-directed by Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno.

BUT WAIT. A friend suggested that we pair this recent Zidane-vaganza with an eerily similar film shot in 1970 by the German experimental filmmaker, Hellmuch Costard. In this case, 8 16mm cameras concentrated their entire focus on that era's transcendent player during a Manchester United vs. Coventry game.


On these nights, we will show both films at the same time on two screens each. The dominate soundtrack will be Zidane's (the George Best soundtrack is almost all crowd sounds). Never before has this happen and it may never happen again. This is your chance to see two generations of soccer legends in one room all alone together at last. Smoke up.

Some notes about the Zidane film...

Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian had this to say about the non-festival Cannes Film Festival entry:

Only last week, I was writing sceptically about video artists such as Douglas Gordon, creator of 24-Hour Psycho. The time has come for me to eat my words, because Gordon, working with Phillipe Parreno, is responsible for the most enjoyable movie of the festival so far - sadly, presented out of competition.

Zinedine Zidane: A 21st-Century Portrait is based on a gloriously simple and audacious idea. To train the camera on the great footballer over the course of a single match: 90 minutes, in real time. On the ball, and mostly off the ball: just Zidane. Gordon occasionally inserts TV coverage clips for context but otherwise the camera remains on Zidane and his face, as gaunt and impassive as an Easter Island statue, massively dignified in the deafening cauldron of noise. He runs; he frowns; he pants; he spits. He is always watchful. Occasionally, he bursts into action.

But even more poignantly, an IMDB contributor from London (of course) had this pitch-perfect summation:

90 minutes of Zidane playing football, the camera on him mostly, hardly any dialogue, and the football is sort of peripheral. It was hypnotic and absorbing, like a modern dance (quite a good sound track) Zidane watching, Zidane bursting with suppressed energy and anger, Zidane running, Zidane arguing with the ref, Zidane smacking other players, Zidane being fouled.

The sound track changed constantly, the raw of the crowd, Zidane scuffing the grass with his boot, Zidane yelling, the thud of 22 pairs of football boots. He hardly talks, smiles rarely, seems to not care about the game, then suddenly does care passionately, maybe a little bit too much, as that got him into trouble at the world cup.

Thank you, Martin Tougher. Your words resonate.
And thank you Mr. Gordon, Mr. Parreno, and Mr. Zidane.
Pretense is not a bad word and meditations should never be.