Soccer
1974 · 27m · Canada
Directed by Shelah Reljic
Genres: documentary, sports
British Columbia's soccer scene receives a celebratory portrait, centred on the accomplished Vancouver Italia club and the game's broad popularity across the province.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
A 1974 sports doc that plays it completely straight—no irony, no deconstruction, just earnest community portraiture. It's almost *too* conventional for me, but there's something quietly defiant about refusing to wink at the camera when everyone else is deconstructing their subjects.
This sits comfortably in the Canadian documentary tradition of social portraiture, capturing Vancouver Italia with the kind of formal restraint and observational clarity that defined NFB output at its height. A modest but assured film that knows exactly what it is—a document of a community and a moment, made with the craft discipline that tradition demands.
What matters here is likely the editorial rhythm and how Reljic lets the game's actual pace dictate the cut—resisting the temptation to pump artificial energy into what's fundamentally a quiet sociological study. The restraint *is* the choice that makes this work rather than disappear.