The second edition of our new format "Football meets Cinema" in cooperation with the Zurich Film Festival this week highlighted the story of legendary referee Abraham Klein from Israel. In the live talk after the Swiss premiere of the short film "1982 Italia - Brasile", he shared several stories from his career with the audience.
The Italy-Brazil match at the 1982 FIFA World Cup™ in Spain has gone down as one of the best matches in World Cup history. The referee was the legendary Israeli referee Abraham Klein who was officiating his third World Cup after 1970 and 1978. But for a long time it was not clear whether Klein would referee at this World Cup at all. The Italian short film "1982 Italia - Brasile" explores the story behind this.
The short film follows Abraham Klein as he prepares for the tournament and struggles to decide whether he will be a part of it or not. The reason is his son Amit, who at that time is a soldier in the Israeli army, fighting in the Lebanon War. He has not heard from his son for a while is worried about his safety. In a second plot line, we accompany an Italian family and their inner-family conflicts that emerge around the World Cup.