The Athletic Club Foundation’s film festival opened with the screening of the film ‘The Last Taboo’ and a Q& session with Thomas Hitzlsperger and Amal Fashanu
The 12th edition of the Athletic Club Foundation’s Thinking Football Film Festival kicked off on Monday evening with a screening of German documentary ‘The Last Taboo’.
‘The Last Taboo’ is a film about sexual freedom in the world of football. The documentary features the testimonies and experiences of ten gay players, including Marcus Urban, Collin Martin, Matt Morton, the late Justin Fashanu and Thomas Hitzlsperger. The latter was named an Athletic Club 125th anniversary ambassador due to his fight for a fairer and more tolerant football.
In fact, Hitzlsperger was in attendance and stressed the importance of the fight against homophobia in men’s football.
“I wanted to tell a positive story with the aim that my story will be repeated, that it will bring about a change for the better,” he said. “This is the fifth time I have been in Bilbao. Athletic Club is a good example of how clubs should approach this subject in the future.”
British presenter, designer, singer and activist Amal Fashanu, Justin Fashanu’s niece, also took part in the post-screening Q&A.
She said: “Football has not evolved as it should in the fight against homophobia, but I hope my uncle’s story will help young footballers. It’s harder to live lying to yourself, not being you, than it is to hide your identity.”
The film’s producer, Felix Gottschalk, and director, Manfred Oldenburg both reiterated “the importance of talking about homophobia, because if we didn’t, it would be as if it doesn’t exist.”
Athletic Club vice-president Nerea Ortiz delivered an opening speech to usher in the 2024 edition of the film festival.
She said: “A film festival organised by a football club? A football club that discusses homophobia, women’s struggle to conquer social spaces that have been historically denied to them, different abilities or migration? A club that works with culture, that sends books free of charge to schools, that promotes reading?
“Here in Bilbao at least, it’s been a long time since these questions have caused any surprise. We’re used to the exceptional nature of our club. We are Unique in The World.”
Tuesday: ‘The Football Aficionado’ & ‘Copa 71’
The Thinking Football festival continues on Tuesday with a double session.
At 18:00 CET we’ll screen the documentary ‘The Football Aficionado’ at the Sala BBK. The film tells the story of Zahra, a 27-year-old Iranian woman who lives in Tehran and is a great fan of the Persepolis football team. She had always wanted to watch football live, but unfortunately in Iran women are forbidden to attend matches. So, Zahra disguises herself as a man and decides to enter the stadium.
At 20:00 CET, we have Copa 71, a film about the women’s football tournament featuring England, Argentina, Mexico, France, Denmark and Italy which took place in Mexico City in August 1971. This event, which brought together more than 100,000 fans in the historic Aztec stadium, marked a before and after in the history of football, but the story has remained largely untold.
