A festival devoted to films about sports fills a gap that few movie­goers may have noticed in Toronto’s notoriously crowded schedule of fests. Yet, as is demonstrated by the best movies on such matters as running, kicking and hitting, the games we play reveal a great deal about us. As Yogi Berra once put it, “You can observe a lot just by watching.”

The Canadian Sport Film Festival, which runs at several venues May 14-17, was created by Russell Field, a sports historian who teaches at U of T. In his view, sports can act “as agents in social change,” reflecting and shaping diverse cultures. His selections for the first annual program are suitably wide-­ranging — topics for the docs on deck range from baseball in Italy to winter sports for the disabled to the worship of Diego Maradona. Making its world premiere at the Al Green Theatre at 7pm on May 16, Black Ice reveals the little-known history of an African-Canadian hockey league founded in Halifax in 1895.

The fest’s opening and closing night movies explore the topic of women in sport. Screening at the Revue on May 14 at 7pm, Blood on the Flat Track: The Rise of the Rat City Roller Girls is a suitably scrappy doc about the women of a Seattle roller derby league. Also at the Revue on May 17 at 7pm, Zanzibar Soccer Queens pays tribute to a group of equally formidable (if less heavily tattooed) females who defy restrictive social roles to pursue their love of footie in East Africa. As is often the case for the athletes on display at the Canadian Sport Film Festival, their fun on the pitch has some serious ramifications.

CANADIAN SPORT FILM FESTIVAL RUNS MAY 14-17 AT THE REVUE CINEMA, INNIS TOWN HALL AND AL GREEN THEATRE. SEE WWW.SPORTFILMFESTIVAL.CA FOR SCHEDULE.

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