Fantasy Futbol

Fantasy Futbol brings together films by Marianna Simnett, Filip Kostic, and Ana Hušman that explore the drama and myth surrounding the world’s most-watched sport: soccer, or football/fútbol as it is known beyond the United States. The works examine the narrative structures that shape the sport’s public life, from the roles and power dynamics on and off the field to the authority of commentary and broadcast media that frame how matches are seen and remembered. Through choreography, livestream performance, and cinematic reenactment, the films follow how moments of play become stories, rituals, and enduring lore that sustain soccer’s cultural and visceral grip worldwide. Fantasy Futbol marks the New York City premiere of all three films and coincides with the arrival of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the New York tri-state region.

In WINNER (2024), Marianna Simnett stages soccer’s emotional economy as a three-act dance in which performers embody the archetypes of hooligans, players, and referees. Filmed in a now-demolished stadium in Berlin, the work draws on Graham Greene’s short story The Destructors (1954), centering on the destruction of a magical-realist house of cards owned by a former referee whose decisions determine victory and defeat. Translating the tensions of the game into dance, Simnett reveals how the drama of soccer is built through shifting roles that alternate between protagonist and antagonist depending on allegiance, as well as through coded body language and ritualized displays of triumph, rivalry, and defeat. Presiding over the action is a chorus of “Ultras,” voiced by American singer and poet Lydia Lunch and referencing the organized fan groups known for orchestrating chants in soccer stadiums. The ball itself, the traditional object of desire, never appears.

In the same vein of theatrics, Filip Kostic’s livestreamed performance Filip Kostic VS Filip Kostic (2019) unfolds as a Twitch standoff in which the artist plays the video game FIFA against Serbian professional soccer player Filip Kostić. The project began when the athlete’s management attempted to purchase the artist’s Instagram handle, @filipkostic, prompting Kostic to propose a public digital duel, modeled on popular Twitch gaming streams, to determine ownership. Designed to mimic sports broadcasting, the livestream features custom graphics, commercials, sponsorships from galleries and art world personalities, and a halftime performance by artist Mark Fingerhut. The rules required both players to compete as Eintracht Frankfurt and keep the soccer player Filip Kostić on the field throughout the match. The match stages a confrontation between two figures who share the same name but occupy vastly different economies of visibility. The game ends decisively, 10–0 in favor of the athlete, resulting in the artist losing the handle @filipkostic and adopting @flipkostic.

Lastly, Ana Hušman’s film Football (2011) reconstructs the infamous “Hand of God” goal scored by Argentine soccer player Diego Maradona during the 1986 FIFA World Cup quarterfinal between Argentina and England. The match took place only four years after the Falklands War, and the controversial goal quickly became one of the most debated moments in the history of the sport, celebrated by some as a national triumph and condemned by others as deception. Hušman restages the scene frame by frame with actors in a studio, replicating the players’ positions from the original broadcast. The sequence is narrated by the artist, who trained her voice to reproduce the cadence and intensity of a sports commentator. In a field where women’s voices are rarely heard in broadcast commentary, her performance subtly challenges the authority traditionally associated with the male announcer. By foregrounding narration and framing, the film reveals how commentary and mediation transform a fleeting moment of play into enduring myth.