BEN
WHAT’S IT TO YA?
July 22, 2026
A common trait of many films is the suspension of disbelief. Even the best auteurs occasionally rely on audiences to believe that major coincidences are realistic. Sometimes, however, that spills into real life. For Ben, the founder of Kick Film Fest, a Toronto-based screening series which shows the best pictures and documentaries related to football, a coincidence is what brought him this career. Back in his senior year of high school, he was struggling with university acceptances. That is, until a film studies class at Concordia emerged, a course he had the right qualifications for. Like a holding midfielder feeling particularly audacious, Ben decided to have a go, and in tow with every great screamer, hit the goal and took off flying.
These days, Ben uses his once-unexpected knowledge to help write, shoot, and produce films of his own and those of his classmates, plus scour the world for its best football flicks to screen at Kick. He’s in the process of founding a microcinema and cafe in Toronto that would be a permanent home for Kick. All of this is in part due to seeing the right class at the right time. Believe that.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What is Kick Film Fest and how did it come about?
Kick Film Fest is very much a labour of love. It brings two passions of mine together, which are football and film. The way that it started, my buddy Louis, who was helping out at the very beginning, I think it was last summer. We were just hanging out, having a coffee, and he’s like, ‘Man, we should just do these little screening series.’ He’s more of a literary guy and not much of a movie guy, so he had, I guess, the initial idea to host a screening where it was centred around or programmed around soccer and soccer film. I just really jumped into it. I approached the DARBY guys with it, approached Wags and Colton with it, and they were just super down. I just pick a movie that I’ve either seen or really want to see and then try to bring in some shorts to do it. For example, we showed The Goalkeeper’s Anxiety At The Penalty Kick, that was one that was very much in my and Louis’ wheelhouse because it was originally a book, and then I’m a big fan of the director, Wim Wenders. So that was perfect for us, where we read an excerpt and we talked about how the book was received and also how the movie came about, and we just thought that was awesome.
These days, Ben uses his once-unexpected knowledge to help write, shoot, and produce films of his own and those of his classmates, plus scour the world for its best football flicks to screen at Kick. He’s in the process of founding a microcinema and cafe in Toronto that would be a permanent home for Kick. All of this is in part due to seeing the right class at the right time. Believe that.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What is Kick Film Fest and how did it come about?
Kick Film Fest is very much a labour of love. It brings two passions of mine together, which are football and film. The way that it started, my buddy Louis, who was helping out at the very beginning, I think it was last summer. We were just hanging out, having a coffee, and he’s like, ‘Man, we should just do these little screening series.’ He’s more of a literary guy and not much of a movie guy, so he had, I guess, the initial idea to host a screening where it was centred around or programmed around soccer and soccer film. I just really jumped into it. I approached the DARBY guys with it, approached Wags and Colton with it, and they were just super down. I just pick a movie that I’ve either seen or really want to see and then try to bring in some shorts to do it. For example, we showed The Goalkeeper’s Anxiety At The Penalty Kick, that was one that was very much in my and Louis’ wheelhouse because it was originally a book, and then I’m a big fan of the director, Wim Wenders. So that was perfect for us, where we read an excerpt and we talked about how the book was received and also how the movie came about, and we just thought that was awesome.
Where does your love of football come from?
I would say it has to be my grandfather and my uncle. Every Sunday we’d go over for Sunday lunch after church, and my grandfather always had the game on TLN on this old wooden box set in the basement. And back then, Serie A was the league. So I remember growing up, my grandfather loved it, my uncle was a really good player and he loved it, so it just made sense that that was how we spent our time together.
Then I started playing and I loved it, I was pretty decent. I remember playing Timbits and I would copy the celebrations of the players I saw on TV and my grandfather and my dad would get so upset. They were like, ‘Why are you pulling your shirt off after playing a Timbits game and scoring two goals? This is crazy.’
And then how does the filmmaking and love of film come around?
You know, I was a normal kid watching movies growing up. My family maybe appreciated movies more, not to the extent that they were film nerds or anything, but it really started in university. I couldn’t get into any university program I wanted and then I applied to Concordia and did film studies and was like, ‘Oh, I don’t even need a portfolio, I guess my English grade is good enough, and I get to go to Montréal.’ I have family there, too, so it just made a lot of sense.
Honestly, it sounds cliché, but those intro to film courses really opened my eyes and I was like, ‘Oh, this is sick. I love this.’ Then, maybe second year, third year at university, I started making my own stuff on the side or helping friends with their projects, and it just took off from there.
I would say it has to be my grandfather and my uncle. Every Sunday we’d go over for Sunday lunch after church, and my grandfather always had the game on TLN on this old wooden box set in the basement. And back then, Serie A was the league. So I remember growing up, my grandfather loved it, my uncle was a really good player and he loved it, so it just made sense that that was how we spent our time together.
Then I started playing and I loved it, I was pretty decent. I remember playing Timbits and I would copy the celebrations of the players I saw on TV and my grandfather and my dad would get so upset. They were like, ‘Why are you pulling your shirt off after playing a Timbits game and scoring two goals? This is crazy.’
And then how does the filmmaking and love of film come around?
You know, I was a normal kid watching movies growing up. My family maybe appreciated movies more, not to the extent that they were film nerds or anything, but it really started in university. I couldn’t get into any university program I wanted and then I applied to Concordia and did film studies and was like, ‘Oh, I don’t even need a portfolio, I guess my English grade is good enough, and I get to go to Montréal.’ I have family there, too, so it just made a lot of sense.
Honestly, it sounds cliché, but those intro to film courses really opened my eyes and I was like, ‘Oh, this is sick. I love this.’ Then, maybe second year, third year at university, I started making my own stuff on the side or helping friends with their projects, and it just took off from there.
Even though soccer is so integral to the global cultural conscience, it doesn’t always feel like it’s prevalent in stories in different forms of media, especially fictional. How did you discover different soccer films, whether fictional or documentary, and how do you merge those two worlds?
Growing up, I watched Goal like 100 times, that was my favourite movie. So Goal and Goal 2, we don’t talk about Goal 3, but those first two, it was like the rags-to-riches, every kid’s dream to get discovered and play. And so that was my surface-level love of soccer and movies.
How do I combine them? It’s a bit natural, they’re both 90 minutes, if you’re lucky they’re longer. A big part of soccer that a lot of people hate is the theatrics of the players, but for me, that kind of goes hand-in-hand with the melodrama of movies. They both have these great stories that are influenced by life and they take a lot of people to make something successful. That’s the kind of combination.
You don’t have to separate art and sport. If anything, they can inform each other a lot, especially when it comes to movies.
Growing up, I watched Goal like 100 times, that was my favourite movie. So Goal and Goal 2, we don’t talk about Goal 3, but those first two, it was like the rags-to-riches, every kid’s dream to get discovered and play. And so that was my surface-level love of soccer and movies.
How do I combine them? It’s a bit natural, they’re both 90 minutes, if you’re lucky they’re longer. A big part of soccer that a lot of people hate is the theatrics of the players, but for me, that kind of goes hand-in-hand with the melodrama of movies. They both have these great stories that are influenced by life and they take a lot of people to make something successful. That’s the kind of combination.
You don’t have to separate art and sport. If anything, they can inform each other a lot, especially when it comes to movies.
Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (the first Kick Fest screening) sounds very much like a character portrait, like another one of your screenings, Diego Maradona. When you’re curating for Kick Film Fest, what are you looking for in a film, what are the types of themes that you’re going for?
I’m worried it’s kind of finite, like there might only be a certain quality of a film I’d want to show that has to do with soccer, no matter how tertiary, so I’m like, ‘OK, let’s just rip all the ones I know and love,’ and then we’ll figure it out as we go. Because there’s even Happy Together by Wong Kar-wai, which is a beautiful film, and there’s maybe ten seconds where the main character, escaping his personal relationship troubles, goes to a soccer game and it’s Boca Juniors versus River Plate. It’s all of ten seconds and it’s shot by Christopher Doyle and you’re like, ‘I want to see a whole movie of what they shot at that game,’ It’s probably incredible. Again, it’s really just things that I think are good and cool and just share them with people. If they have to do with football, we’ll screen them.
If it gives an emotional reaction or just something you want to share. Most programming, what it comes down to, is just something I want to share with people. Even something like Rudo Y Cursi, which we showed the second time, which is basically like an Y Tu Mamá También-like alternate universe movie. It’s very comedic and buddy-buddy and there’s still some cultural commentary, but it’s very much a comedy. Then in contrast with The Goalkeeper’s Anxiety, which is again a cultural commentary, but very subdued, very peeled back, like an internal character study of a kind of psychopath. They don’t really fit all that well, but they’re both about soccer.
I’m worried it’s kind of finite, like there might only be a certain quality of a film I’d want to show that has to do with soccer, no matter how tertiary, so I’m like, ‘OK, let’s just rip all the ones I know and love,’ and then we’ll figure it out as we go. Because there’s even Happy Together by Wong Kar-wai, which is a beautiful film, and there’s maybe ten seconds where the main character, escaping his personal relationship troubles, goes to a soccer game and it’s Boca Juniors versus River Plate. It’s all of ten seconds and it’s shot by Christopher Doyle and you’re like, ‘I want to see a whole movie of what they shot at that game,’ It’s probably incredible. Again, it’s really just things that I think are good and cool and just share them with people. If they have to do with football, we’ll screen them.
If it gives an emotional reaction or just something you want to share. Most programming, what it comes down to, is just something I want to share with people. Even something like Rudo Y Cursi, which we showed the second time, which is basically like an Y Tu Mamá También-like alternate universe movie. It’s very comedic and buddy-buddy and there’s still some cultural commentary, but it’s very much a comedy. Then in contrast with The Goalkeeper’s Anxiety, which is again a cultural commentary, but very subdued, very peeled back, like an internal character study of a kind of psychopath. They don’t really fit all that well, but they’re both about soccer.
We have to ask you the question all filmmakers get asked, but with a twist. What are your four favourite films on Letterboxd, and also, what are your four favourite football films?
I’ve been dreaming of this my whole life. Let me open Letterboxd, I’ll go with my top four right now, because it switches all the time, this is very loose:
The main top four is In A Lonely Place by Nicholas Ray with Humphrey Bogart, I got Hail Mary by Jean-Luc Godard, it’s so cliché, but The Godfather 2 has to be up there, super great, and then we’ll say The Thin Red Line by Terrence Malick, those last two I watched recently and loved.
The football top four is Kes by Ken Loach, it has some soccer scenes, so we’ll move it here, to go along with Rudo Y Cursi, Goal, and Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait.
Photos: Sean Pollock
Interview: Thomas Hewitt
I’ve been dreaming of this my whole life. Let me open Letterboxd, I’ll go with my top four right now, because it switches all the time, this is very loose:
The main top four is In A Lonely Place by Nicholas Ray with Humphrey Bogart, I got Hail Mary by Jean-Luc Godard, it’s so cliché, but The Godfather 2 has to be up there, super great, and then we’ll say The Thin Red Line by Terrence Malick, those last two I watched recently and loved.
The football top four is Kes by Ken Loach, it has some soccer scenes, so we’ll move it here, to go along with Rudo Y Cursi, Goal, and Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait.
Photos: Sean Pollock
Interview: Thomas Hewitt
