COPA 71 will be the Opening film in TIFF Docs at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival, coming just as the new Women’s World Cup champions are crowned.
Together with New Black Films and Westbrook, the Dogwoof Production is is the extraordinary story of the 1971 Women’s World Cup, told by the pioneering women who participated in it and built from archive unseen for fifty years, this tournament was witnessed by record crowds that has been written out of sporting history — until now.
With backing from sporting icons Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Alex Morgan amongst the Executive Producers uncovers the story of the true pioneers of international womens football that has all but erased from history.
Filmmakers Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine (THE ICE KING) spoke to Variety about their reasons for making the film:
“Imagine if you played in front of 100,000 people, and you’re still told, ‘No, this didn’t happen to you,’”
“The idea that women’s football did not progress because women didn’t want it to is a myth that’s been percolating for a long time, along with the idea that women’s football was never commercial, that women didn’t want to play and that women weren’t any good. That’s what [this film] blasts out of the water.”
- Rachel Ramsay, Co Director
Read more in Variety
