EUFF 2022: Tigers

Sweden/Italy/Denmark | Ronnie Sandahl | 2020 | 116 min

Martin Bengtsson (played by The Bridge star Erik Enge in a powerhouse performance) is considered Sweden’s most promising football talent in a generation. At sixteen, his lifelong dream comes true: his rights are bought by the prestigious Italian club Inter Milan. It’s the chance of a lifetime, but it also comes with high expectations and intense pressure. Martin soon begins to question whether this is the life he really wants. Based on Bengtsson’s memoir In The Shadows of San Siro, Tigers lifts the lid off the luxurious lifestyles of sports superstars, an unstable, rollercoaster world where everything, and everyone, has a price tag. “Expertly crafted … In an assured second directorial feature, Sandahl stays within the general thematic parameters of his screenplays for Janus Metz’s Borg vs. McEnroe and Olivia Wilde’s forthcoming Perfect, another fact-inspired sports tale … Compelling, well cast and directed with vivid intensity” (Dennis Harvey, Variety).

“A rare and refreshing entry into the sports movie genre … Rather than follow the well-worn narrative trajectory of struggle followed by success, the picture looks instead at the considerable cost of excellence.” Wendy Ide, Screen International