Emotional memories of 2006 on film and in live talk

The first edition of our new “Cinema” live talks in cooperation with the Zurich Film Festival was a resounding success. The sold-out world premiere of the film When the World Watched: Italy 2006 was followed by an exciting live talk at the FIFA Museum. Red carpets are to premieres as pitches are to football and the Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) is no different, even if the carpet in Zurich on which the stars speak to the media and pose for photos is traditionally green. Ideal conditions, then, to mark the start of the FIFA Museum’s new cooperation with the ZFF. On Wednesday, the protagonists and film-makers of FIFA’s new documentary When the World Watched: Italy 2006 gathered on that very same green carpet, together with FIFA Museum representatives, to celebrate the film’s global premiere as part of the ZFF. The protagonists were represented by 2006 World Cup-winner and FIFA Museum ambassador Gianluca Zambrotta and Fabio Caressa, the voice of Sky Sport for Italy’s matches at Germany 2006, who appeared with his wife Benedetta Parodi, the Italian TV presenter and author. From the film team, director Thomas Cotton made the trip along with producers Sep Cipriano and John McKenna. The group was led by FIFA Museum Managing Director Marco Fazzone and completed by FIFA Museum ambassador Pascal Zuberbühler.

After the obligatory photo call on the green carpet, the luminaries went to the cinema for the world premiere of the film, which was screened to a packed audience. There was a brief Q[&]A on the stage before viewers were transported back to 2006 to follow the Italian team on their journey to World Cup glory. Memories of the emotionally charged tournament brought tears to the eyes of world champion Zambrotta, as he admitted the next day during the live talk at the FIFA Museum. But he was not the only one to be affected: when watching the scene in which Zambrotta scored what he considered to be his most important goal for the Azzurri, against Ukraine in the quarter-final, the entire audience broke out into cheers and applause. Some of these emotional memories were relived in the live talk moderated by ZFF Artistic Director Christian Jungen the following day, when the former football legend, Italian TV commentator Caressa and the British film team discussed the differences between Italian and English football, among other topics. Zambrotta recalled how the Italian fans celebrated outside the team’s hotel after the semi-final victory over Germany and also how Marco Materazzi removed a piece of turf from the pitch to take home as a souvenir after the final at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. At the end of the film, the verdict was unanimous: the film had marvellously conveyed the importance of winning the 2006 World Cup to the Italian people, giving them a reason to fall in love with the beautiful game again after the shock of the Calciopoli manipulation scandal before the tournament. <h4>Don't miss our next edition of "Cinema" on 26 October 2022 with the award-winning short film "1982 Italy – Brazil" followed by a live talk with refereeing legend Abraham Klein.</h4> <button class="button inside">Info [&] Tickets</button>