Watch Out
With Cyan’s focus on newer films, it seems I totally forgot to hype an older one: After the Cup: The Sons of Sakhnin United, a documentary for which I spent several months in the far north of Israel as on-set producer, and that’s currently in theaters in New York and Los Angeles.
While the film premiered a couple of years back at the Tribeca Film Festival, footage licensing and internal politics held up the theatrical release, until now. But, despite the delay, If you live in New York or LA, it’s certainly worth checking out. (If you live elsewhere, you can add it to your Netflix queue.)
The film follows a mixed Arab / Jewish soccer team, on its way through winning the Israeli national cup, and then representing Israel on the UEFA world tour. Essentially, it’s about how sport can bring us together – but also about how it can still leave us very far apart.
Given the way profits flow on a film like this after it’s been sold to a distributor, I’m unlikely to see a further penny of your ticket price (or your Netflix subscription), so I can say this in an at least relatively unbiased way: this is a good, thought-provoking film that’s worth your time and attention. Check it out.