International sports movie, TV festival draws Chinese competitors

MILAN — A world championship of cinema and television sports movies has showed many films and TV programs in Milan with participation of Chinese competitors.

The 35th edition of “Sports Movies & TV — Milan International FICTS Fest” was launched with a ceremony at the Palazzo Giureconsulti in the hearth of Italy’s economic capital Milan on last Wednesday.

The festival offers 140 screenings of sport-themed movies and documentaries from 63 countries — including 25 world and European premieres — which would compete in eight separate sections, each of them set to be awarded with a specific prize. Premieres will include the official Film of Olympic Games Rio 2016.

Organized by the Federation of International Cinema and Television on Sports (FICTS), the major event aims at highlighting the importance of promoting the sports image and the cultural and ethical values attached to all sports disciplines.

A great former soccer champion such as Brazilian Paulo Roberto Falcao, who was among the world guests gathering in Milan, agreed that every sport could have a major impact on society beyond strict competition. “Think about soccer ... it was able to (temporary) stop wars sometimes,” Falcao told Xinhua.

He mentioned as an example Brazilian football legend Pele, when he played with his club Santos in Nigeria in 1969, bringing about a 48-hour-long truce in the ongoing civil war.

Every athlete should understand the responsibility of being a “model” for ordinary fans, and for the many children dreaming to become champions as well, according to Falcao.

“They should bear this in mind all the time: not just during a competition, but also in what they do outside the playground, in the way they dress, behave, and in what they say or do not say publicly,” the 64-year-old champion stressed.

Beside screenings, side events at the festival include workshops, exhibitions, and meetings with international sports celebrities taking place in different locations across Milan.

The selected works reflect a large participation from Italy to Brazil and Iran, from Germany to Japan, Nigeria, and the US, from the Czech Republic to China.

Overall, China indeed appears to be one of the largest contributors to the event, with 18 titles in competition. A specific exhibition displaying the posters of all the 18 Chinese films was also set up within the main festival’s venue.

Among China’s competing works is Lao Wang: A Handsome Old Man Shares His Thoughts on Dreams, Life and Workouts, coproduced by Sports Geography and Xinhua News Agency.

The short sports movie tells the life and thoughts of 82-yearold Chinese actor Wang Deshun, known as China’s hottest grandpa, and venerated in the country for the example he provides on how to get old without fading away.

Other Chinese works include 57-minute story Seven Kilometers on extreme sports and the positive impact they can play in lightening depression, and documentary Change on China’s basketball star Yao Ming after he retired.

There will also be The Hero with Single Leg on sports and disability, No End on the first man able to hammer an Olympic flag on the Everest peak, and Walk Across the Tiger Leaping Gorge on slack-lining on one of China’s deepest canyons.