BFI London Film Festival: Sunday Ball (aka Campo De Jogo)

Brazilian director Eryk Rocha tackles one his native country’s abiding passions in this exhilarating documentary: football. Its focus is on the players and ecstatic fans from a mostly impoverished background. The matches are a far cry from the glossy spectacle and the political shenanigans of the recent World Cup tournament, but the passion and fervour of the games are on display are unquestionable, and evoked by Rocha through intimate and responsive camerawork. A stirring portrait of the way soccer unites a community of economically deprived fans, Sunday Ball is a smart and absorbing treat for both football devotees and non-fans. [Clare Stewart]

Tickets for London Film Festival screenings can be purchased through the BFI and BFI Box Office 020 7928 3232 (9.30am-8.30pm daily) or the London Film Festival website: bfi.org.uk/lff