Festival del Film Locarno x House of Switzerland

Winners and Losers de Lech Kowalski – Piazza Grande

80 min, o.v. st. French

"The film that concludes this selection is Lech Kowalski’s Winners and Losers, screened on the Piazza Grande as the closing film some ten years ago. The film takes the spectators of the World Cup final as material from which to weave a vast tapestry of a narrative in which comedy, melodrama and tragedy are all one. This film in particular is a way of paying tribute to what makes the Festival del film Locarno unique, i.e. its highly discerning yet generous audience, always keen to embark on adventurous trips of discovery.“ Carlo Chatrian, Artistic Director

The final Italy versus France match in the 2006 football world cup, which received enormous media coverage due to Zidane’s head butting of Materazzi, is filmed in Lech Kowalski’s latest documentary in a very personal style, without ever showing the players, focusing on those protagonists who are invisible yet indispensable to the success of such an event: the supporters. The latter are shown, in Rome and in Paris, in their homes and in cafes, watching the match on a giant screen. Mirrors of modern society, these new stars, filmed before and after the final, are shown in all their complexity, in their particular everyday lives. Looking beyond the tension and chauvinism aroused by such an event, the enthusiasm and the aggressiveness, Winners and Losers explores human nature with a great deal of affection, humour and realism.