Football As Never Before in Gordon and Parreno's Zidane, A 21st Century Portrait

ZIDANE, A 21ST CENTURY PORTRAIT / Zidane, un Portrait du 21e Siècle
(Douglas Gordon & Philippe Parreno, France/Iceland, 2006, 92 minutes)

"There has never been anything quite like Zidane."
--International Herald Tribune

Should you need a non-narrative break from SIFF '08, which ends this Sunday, the Northwest Film Forum presents an encore screening of Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno's highly-touted documentary Zidane, A 21st Century Portrait starting tonight and running through June 15.

When I spoke with Program Director Adam Sekuler before the original run, he enthused that the NWFF had already sold 250 advance tickets. Recently, I interviewed Sekuler via email about SIFF's Alternative Cinema section, which he and co-programmer Andy Spletzer compiled together. Sekuler emphasized that "the traditional narrative isn't the only way to make films."

He could have easily been talking about this "21st century portrait," in which 17 cameras track the every enigmatic move of former Real Madrid player--and champion head-butter--Zinedine Zidane during the course of a 2005 match against Villareal. NWFF publicist Ryan Davis proclaimed the first stand "a great success; every single screening was packed, and it's all thanks to our supporters who helped get the word out--and showed up themselves." 

So, if you missed it the first time around, you've got a second chance, and this one-of-a-kind film works best on the big screen. Though I didn't have time to write about Zidane in April, I did review the Chemikal Underground collection CHEM087CD+DVD, which features contributions from composers Mogwai. Like the band, Gordon hails from Glasgow; Parreno from Paris.

And since there isn't much I can say about Zidane that Visual Arts Editor Jen Graves didn't already cover in The Stranger, you can follow this link to read her Slog post--plus comments from a very excited peanut gallery.

Because I can't resist: John Otway's immortal "Headbutts."

Zidane, A 21st Century Portrait plays the Northwest Film Forum Fri-Sun, June 13-15, at 7 and 9:15pm. In Football as Never Before, the rare 1971 George Best doc that originally played with Zidane, German experimental director Hellmuth Costard trained eight cameras on the infamous Man United footballer. The NWFF is located at 1515 12th Ave. on Capitol Hill. For more information, please call 206-329-2629. Image from Rotten Tomatoes.