Monday, October 22, 2007

A CANADIAN FOOTBALL LOVE AFFAIR, ON FILM

There haven't been many feature-length documentary treatments that attempt to probe Canada's sports culture — sportswriting in this country has always been kind of shallow. So it piqued my interest to see the trailer for Season of Dreams, which explores the province of Saskatchewan's fascination with football.

The project of Tom Simes and Chris Funk of Five Stone Films follows two high school teams during the 2006 season — including one that plays the six-man version of the game popular on the Prairies — and also touches on the Vanier Cup being played in Saskatoon. It might not be a warts-and-all presentation in the vein of Friday Night Lights or the documentary Go Tigers!, but it certainly makes an attempt to capture a sports culture that the rest of Canada doesn't fully appreciate.

The NFL Network has a series called America's Game which periodically includes features about the game at the grass roots. Here's hoping Season of Dreams captures that "football for football's sake" vibe. Outside of hockey, there isn't enough being done to define this to Canadians. The film premieres Nov. 12 — here's hoping it can be accessible outside of Saskatchewan.

Related:
Season of Dreams website

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