This evening at 7.30 p.m., the Jordanian U-17 women’s football team will be the star of the second screening at Casa Árabe in Madrid of the Women in Football series, with the film 17. Tickets are numbered and the screening is in the original version with Spanish subtitles.
17 is an account of the lives of young women who are passionate about football, a sport they have been told is only for men. The film follows the Jordanian U-17 women’s national football team as they prepare for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup which was held for the first time in an Arab country, Jordan, in 2016. The girls, who come from very different social backgrounds, come together to face a series of shared challenges as national team players. The documentary is shot in the crucial months leading up to the World Cup, with testimonies from Olympic gold medallist Ahmad Abu Ghosh and former Barcelona player and current coach Xavi Hernández.
Widad Shafakoj’s films are characterised by a strong sense of social commitment and defence of human rights, such as the situation of orphans in Jordan, Syrian refugees in the Al Zaatari camp or the vulnerable situation of women who, faced with the risk of being killed by their families accused of honour crimes, deliberately seek to enter prison in order to feel safe. Tickets can be purchased here.
