PELE FOREVER (PELE ETERNO) Special Screenings

In another time, athletes played for family or for country or, yes, for the love of the game. In another time, fans cheered wildly for their team and applauded greatness in an opponent’s efforts. And, in that time, a man widely regarded as the greatest soccer player of all time roused entire stadiums of people to their feet in standing ovations.

In a small Brazilian village in 1950, a young boy named Edson Arantes do Nascimento listened to the WorId Cup soccer final on a transistor radio with his father. When Uruguay pulled off a 2-1 victory over the Brazilian team, the man broke down sobbing, prompting the 10-year-old to console his father with the promise that he would one day help Brazil win the World Cup. Thus began the legend of Pele. In an amazing career, spanning two decades and nearly 1,400 games, Pele dribbled, lobbed, stutter-kicked, faked, cannonballed and headered his way into the hearts of soccer fans the world over. His grace and skill, dogged work ethic and uncontainable enthusiasm for the game allowed him to deliver on that promise-and then some-to his father.

With its clever image layering, 2-D cutouts and animation, PELE FOREVER has its own kinetic energy, it combines first-person narration from Pele himself (along with his family, former teammates and rivals), superimposed over countless reels of stunning highlight footage. The syncopated beat of Brazilian samba music perfectly sets off the amazing acrobatics of Pele as he twists and turns and tortures his hapless defenders.