Tribeca Film Festival World Premiere ‘Pelé: Birth of a Legend’ Has a Trailer
Enjoying its world premiere at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival, Pelé: Birth of a Legend now has a trailer. The biopic about the Brazilian soccer legend is set to screen on Saturday, April 23 as part of the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival and Pelé is expected to be in attendance. Tickets for the screening go on sale Tuesday, March 29. You can check out the trailer below.
Directed by brothers Jeff and Michael Zimbalist, Pelé: Birth of a Legend tracks the soccer player’s rise to fame from a small boy, to the teenager who scored the winning goal in Brazil’s first ever World Cup victory in 1958. The trailer amps up the inspirational nature of the sports star’s story; a boy who came from nothing, and had lofty dreams. Employing what was considered by some to be an unorthodox style of play, the teen changed the game and gave hope to a nation. The film stars Vincent D’Onofrio, Rodrigo Santoro, Colm Meaney, and Brazilian musician Seu Jorge, who you may recognize from City of God and Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
Pelé: Birth of a Legend is produced by Brian Glazer’s Imagine Entertainment, the company behind such fan favorites as Apollo 13, 8 Mile, and Friday Night Lights, among many others.
Now in its 10th year, the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival consistently delivers an impressive slate that runs the gamut from inspirational and thrilling to heart-rending. In fact, some of our favorite films from Tribeca have appeared in this section. Among those that have screened include Alex Gibney’s Catching Hell, Cosima Spender’s Palio, Michael Apted’s The Power of the Game, Benny and Josh Safdie’s Lenny Cooke, Bill Siegel’s The Trials of Muhammad Ali, Eric Drath’s Renée, and Andrea Nevins’ Play it Forward. In addition to Pelé, this year’s Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival lineup features This Magic Moment, about the mid-90s Orlando Magic team, the romantic comedy My Blind Brother starring Adam Scott, Nick Kroll, and Jenny Slate, and Win!, a documentary that looks at the birth of the New York City Football Club. Also, Tribeca is hosting a marathon miniseries screening of O.J.: Made In America with food and drink included. For more details about this section visit the fest’s website.
Pelé: Birth of a Legend is only screening once during Tribeca, on Saturday, April 23 at 3pm at the John Zuccotti Theater at BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center. Again, tickets go on sale Tuesday, March 29 at 11am EDT and are available here. If you aren’t able to attend the world premiere, IFC Films is releasing the film in theaters on May 6th with VOD to follow on May 13th.