Sport and Cinema.com

As part of ESPN’s “30 for 30” film initiative celebrating the network’s 30th anniversary comes this documentary from rapper-turned-filmmaker Ice Cube. The program debuts on ESPN Tuesday at 8pm ET.

Beginning tomorrow and running for a week and a half more than 200 films from 30 countries, including sneak previews from major studios and summer specialty releases will be presented in some of the finest theaters in Los Angeles.

Major releases debuting at the festival are “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” from Michael Bay and Johnny Depp starring as the Depression-era outlaw John Dillinger in “Public Enemies”.

Writer/director Robert Siegel (“The Wrestler”) received some good news about his movie. Earlier this week The Hollywood Reporter noted that First Independent Pictures has acquired the U.S. distribution rights to Siegel’s “Big Fan”, starring Patton Oswalt as an obsessive New York Giants fan.
A theatrical release is planned for late summer or early fall.

Where did the idea for the story come from?

Originally, I had conceived Rudo y Cursi (Tough and Corny) as a mockumentary about Tato, a player from humble origins that attains glory within professional soccer, but disappears mysteriously and becomes a legend. When I told Diego and Gael the story, they both wanted to play Tato, which was really cool. The problem was that there was only one character. That is when I realized that I wanted to work with both of them together again and I had to grow the story to two characters. The first thing that came to my mind was the image of two soccer players solving an intimate drama right before shooting a penalty in front of a full stadium. Then I thought, why not make them siblings, so I started constructing the story backwards.

Opening tomorrow is a film about a Mexican portrait of brotherhood and dreams from writer/director Carlos Cuaron (“Y Tu Mama Tambien”).

Beto and Tato, two brothers (Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal) working at a banana plantation in rural Mexico spend much of their free time playing soccer for the village team. Nicknamed “Tough” because of his personality and football style, Beto dreams of becoming a professional soccer player; Tato’s dream is to be a famous singer. Both share the dream of building a house for their mother, Elvira (Dolores Heredia).

Before all the accolades that came with writing an Oscar-nominated film (“The Wrestler”), Robert Siegel wrote and directed a small picture using football as a backdrop on the psychology of obsession. Having scored in a run through the film festivals, “Big Fan” has garnered some critical momentum that may yield broader distribution. One of the reasons why is that the story rings of a sad truth.

The 11th edition of the
Method Festival Independent Film Festival begins its annual week-long run today in Calabasas, California and sports will play a prominent role in the screenings.