K+S New York 2024 is coming in March to Kyle Martino's Football Cafe

Kicking + Screening Soccer Film Festival New York 2024 is coming March 14-16, 2024.

We are deep in planning mode for the 2024 edition of K+S in the Big Apple, watching films, developing the programming slate, and lining up special guests.

2024 marks our 15th year organizing soccer film festivals. To celebrate this milestone, K+S New York 2024 will feature several new elements, including a cool new venue:

  • Kyle Martino’s Football Cafe, the city’s premier destination for soccerheads, will be the home of K+S New York 2024.

  • Cultural programming will include a panel and art show dedicated to soccer club crests and a “polar bear” tournament.

  • Unique K+S merch is in the works. The #SOCCERFILM COLLECTION will celebrate some of the great moments in soccer film history.

More information, including the film lineup and ticket sales will be announced before the end of the year.

K+S partners with USL on Soccer Film Night in Colorado Springs

Kicking + Screening is going on the road to Colorado Springs as part of the United Soccer League’s annual marquee event, the USL Summer Showcase, presented by Hisense.

K+S has partnered with the USL, the Colorado Springs Switchbacks, and the Independent Film Society of Colorado for a special screening of BIG-TIME SOCCER: The Remarkable Rise & Fall of the NASL.

The screening takes place on Monday, August 7, at 7:00PM MT, at one of the coolest meeting spots in the Springs: Ivywild School.

Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door.

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Directed by Rachel Viollet, Big-Time Soccer tells the incredible story of the 1970s league that kicked off the modern American soccer movement.

Official Synopsis:

Nearly 40 years since its demise, the North American Soccer League continues to linger in the memories and imaginations of soccer fans across the United States — and beyond. The colorful, oftentimes controversial league attracted some of the game’s greatest players: Pele, Best, Cruyff, Muller, Beckenbauer, to name a few. Crowds of 70,000-plus flocked to games as the NASL brought star power to a country where soccer had been virtually invisible just a few years earlier.

It was as if a huge soccer circus had arrived to entertain America. But it couldn’t last. For many fascinating reasons, the NASL did not survive.

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"Croatia: Defining a Nation" opens K+S New York 2022 tonight

K+S New York 2022, our 13th annual soccer film festival in the Big Apple, kicks off tonight.

Our opening film is the brilliant documentary film Croatia: Defining a Nation, directed by Louis Myles.

The film explores the story of how Croatia’s 3rd-place finish at the 1998 World Cup helped the country emerge from a brutal war.

Plus shorts:

  • Mitch Match (2 mins) | What happens when an adventurous blue-headed matchstick decides to play soccer? Directed by Géza Tóth.

  • Nando (5 mins) | A poem about a caterpillar inspires a boy in a Rio favela and provides the connection to the famous Maracana Stadium. Directed by Alec Cutler.

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Free Beer!

Thanks to our friends at Estrella Galicia, the first beer is on us for every festival attendee.

K+S to discuss sports films at Religion of Sports' "House of Futbol" in NYC

At 6:00 PM ET on Wednesday, November 30 — the eve of K+S New York 2022 — Kicking + Screening Soccer Film Festival cofounder Rachel Markus will sit on a panel called “The Rise of the Sports Documentary.”

Markus will be joined on the panel Ameeth Sankaran (CEO of Religion of Sports), Gotham Chopra (award-winning filmmaker and co-founder of Religion of Sports), and Kati Fernandez (ESPN content creator and strategist).

  • The expert panel will discuss the “the rise in quantity, quality, and popularity of sports docs, and how it’s changing the way we relate to sports.”

The event is hosted by Religion of Sports, the sports content company co-founded by the aforementioned Chopra and Tom Brady and Michael Strahan. It will take place at ROS’ “House of Fútbol,” a World Cup popup space on the Lower East Side.

In conjunction with the panel, K+S will curate a special selection of soccer short films.

Tickets are free with reservation.

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The 7 best World Cup films ever, according to the soccer film experts (read: us)

The Men’s World Cup is here!

Which, of course, means plenty of World Cup film lists are floating around.

Since we like to think we know a thing or two about great soccer films, we thought we’d share some our favorite Men’s World Cup films — all of which have screened K+S at some point.

We’ve looked for streaming options for these films, but many are just not available in the US. (Some might be online somewhere, but you didn’t hear that from us.)

Les Yeux dans les Bleus

Before Hard Knocks and All or Nothing, director Stephane Meunier showed what life was truly like inside a team. This up-close-and-personal view of France’s World Cup win in 1998 goes inside player’s rooms, private meetings, and team meals.

  • The scene alone with Zinedine Zidane in the locker room after he gets a red card is pure sports-doc gold.

American Fútbol

Four American friends embark on an epic soccer adventure through Central and South America. With the 2014 World Cup in Brazil as their final destination, they embrace the passionate fútbol culture of Latin America — and supercharge their own passion to support the US national team.

Rent on Amazon.

One Night in Turin

Gary Lineker's goals. David Platt's volley. Paul Gascoigne's tears. Chris Waddle’s missed penalty. This was England at the 1990 World Cup in Italy.

Director James Erskine’s film recalls all the joy and pain of the run to the semis, interwoven with the political context of Thatcherism and the specter of hooliganism.

  • The early ‘90s soundtrack is brilliant, and Gary Oldman is the narrator.

Game of Their Lives

Directed by Daniel Gordon (FIFA Uncovered), this feature doc tells the story of the North Korean team that competed at the 1966 World Cup.

The squad of unknowns stunned Italy before disappearing back home.

Gordon brilliantly interweaves the historical account with his attempts to meet the seven surviving players in North Korea.

Rent on Vimeo.

Tres Millones

Filmmaker Yamandu Roos and his father, Jaime Roos, a famous Uruguayan singer, travel to South Africa to follow Uruguay’s talented team at the 2010 World Cup.

Roos’s fame gets them access to the likes of Edinson Cavani, Diego Forlán, and Luis Suárez as La Celeste reach the semifinals.

Ultimately, though, this is a story of a father and son and a shared passion music, stories, and fútbol.

Stream on Apple TV or Amazon.

One: The Story of a Goal

As El Salvador descended into civil war in the early 1980s, the national team stunningly earned a berth in the 1982 World Cup.

The internal politics and corruption that ensued crushed any notions of a Cinderella story for the team. And they lost 10-1 to Hungary in their opener.

But none of that can dampen El Salvador’s enduring pride about that team’s unlikely achievement.

Watch on YouTube (Spanish).

Mundial: The Highest Stakes

A retelling of the Poland’s 3rd place finish at the 1982 World Cup in Spain, achieved against the backdrop of martial law back home.

The team were unable to prepare properly because of the politics, but the talent of Boniek, Młynarczyk, Smolarek, and others were not to be denied.

And the fans in Madrid and Barcelona embraced the team and the global pro-Solidarity movement burst into view in the stadiums.