The biopic, based on the life of French female footballer Marinette Pichon was voted the best film of this year’s festival
‘Marinette’, Virginie Verrier‘s biopic about the great French football pioneer Marinette Pichon, has won the Thinking Football Film Festival’s 2023 Audience Award. The film, based on the player’s autobiography “Ne jamais rien lâcher” (Never give up), depicts Pichon’s life and career, from a tough upbringing – due to an alcoholic and abusive father – to her retirement as a football legend.
She scored 81 goals in 112 appearances for the French national team. While in domestic football, after a spell with Saint-Memmie Olympique, she went on to triumph in the United States with the Philadelphia Chargers in WUSA (Women’s United Soccer Association) and then the New Jersey Wildcats in the USL W-League.
Today, Marinette Pichon is 47 years old and an icon in the fight for women’s rights in sport. As director Virginie Verrier pointed out in the Q&A following the screening of the film, Marinette‘s struggle “is a story that conveys hope”.
Without a doubt, the Thinking Football audience appreciated that the film touched on several themes which go beyond the main character and concern society as a whole. “Contemporary issues that are more relevant than ever: equality in sport, sexual diversity, sorority, gender violence, etc,” said the French director.
The Thinking Football Audience Award comes with a prize of €2,500 for the winning film, an amount that must be donated in its entirety to a charitable cause chosen by the film’s crew. In addition, the trophy features a female footballer holding a ball with one arm and a set of books with the other.
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