Which movies will be shown at the Winter Cine Club? The event curated by nss sports and FILA HUB
Winter Cine Club is the event series curated by nss sports and FILA HUB, conceived to celebrate the values of sport through the screening of themed films. The program includes three cinematic appointments at FILA HUB, located at Via Sabina 2 in Milan. The scheduled screenings are: Il maestro by Andrea Di Stefano, starring Pierfrancesco Favino, on February 9; Borg vs McEnroe on February 11; and, as the third appointment, I, Tonya. The series will conclude with a closing party scheduled for February 14.
Il maestro
Director Andrea Di Stefano revisits fragments of his childhood, reworking them into a screenplay co-written with Ludovica Rampoldi for the sports film Il maestro, starring Pierfrancesco Favino as the sardonic yet melancholic Raul Gatti—a character whose name already feels iconic within contemporary Italian cinema. The film is a coming of age story centered on young Felice, played by Tiziano Menichelli, as he prepares to enter the national tennis tournament circuit under the guidance—and prescriptions—of an unconventional coach heavily reliant on psychotropic drugs. Set in the late 1980s and imbued with the spirit of Dino Risi’s Il sorpasso, the journey ultimately teaches the boy not how or why winning matters, but how to understand and embrace failure. An art in itself, and perhaps the only one master Gatti can truly teach. In a story where redemption is a possible path—but never the only one.
Borg vs McEnroe
They were two of the greatest tennis players in the history of the sport—and they dominated the same era. The rivalry between John McEnroe and Björn Borg was as legendary as their talent, so much so that it has been passed down through generations and translated into cinematic form by Janus Metz Pedersen in 2017. Borg vs McEnroe is a sports drama that focuses on the 1980 Wimbledon Championships, expanding into a narrative that explores the many layers of competition between the Swedish champion and his American challenger, who faced each other fourteen times between 1978 and 1981. The film unveils the tensions and behind-the-scenes moments of both athletes, portrayed by Sverrir Gudnason as Borg and Shia LaBeouf as McEnroe. A privileged glimpse into the personal lives of the players, culminating in the final sequence on the tennis court. A piece of sports history revived through cinema.
Tonya
A story so outrageous it could only be true. In 2017, Margot Robbie portrayed figure skater Tonya Harding, whose life and career were shaped into an adrenaline-fueled spectacle by screenwriter Steven Rogers and directed by Craig Gillespie. Fast-paced and irreverent—hallmarks of the Australian director’s style—I, Tonya is a biopic suspended between truth and reconstruction, recounting the assault commissioned by the athlete to prevent her rival Nancy Kerrigan from qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team in the 1990s. Beyond being remembered as the first American woman to land a triple axel in 1991, Harding became the epicenter of a media frenzy. The film captures the chaotic and frenetic carousel of events, delving into the shadows of a childhood marked by an overbearing mother and an obsessive need for recognition through glory. Undoubtedly one of the finest films about sport—and about what we are willing to sacrifice in pursuit of victory.
