Tonight the Spazio Cinema Anteo of CityLife, in Milan, will be the setting for a special evening, dedicated to a great Italian football player: Igor Protti. The documentary “IGOR. The romantic hero of football” will be screened at 9.40pmbut what makes this moment special is the participation of prominent figures in the event such as the director Luca dal Cantowho will introduce the film together with the former footballer Fabio Galante.
The work, distributed by Piano B Distribuzioni, arrives at Anteo after the success achieved in absolute preview at the 17th edition of the BIF&ST – Bari International Film&Tv Festival and a tour that is touching the main Italian cinemas.
The feature film will take the viewer on a journey to an era different from ours, still linked to now forgotten principles. It’s flag season (who chooses a team and stays there for their entire career), stickers to exchange and champions covered in mud. A moving and visceral football, made up of romantic heroes like Protti.
It is the portrait of a pre-smartphone Italy, made up of live images “90th Minute”of radios glued to your ear and of transfer market negotiations followed in the pages of newspapers under the umbrella. A story that outlines a human and mythical football that seems to have vanished with the start of the new millennium.
Born in Rimini in September 1967Igor was a striker capable of writing the history of our football by winning the top scorer ranking in three different categories: Serie A (season 95-96), Serie B (02/03) and Serie C (00/01 and 01/02). Over the years he has left indelible memories in the minds of fans Bari, Lazio, Messina, Naples and Livornothe teams in which he played.
His palmares boasts an almost unique record: he is the only player to have won the top scorers’ ranking four times in three different series. The 1995-96 season remains engraved in his memory, when he became top scorer in Serie A with Bari despite the team’s relegation. But it is his bond with Livorno that defines his greatness: in 1999 he chose to give up a billion-dollar salary and easy success to return to Serie C1 with the amaranth shirt, becoming a symbol of revenge for an entire province.
In addition to being a testimony to the striker’s exceptional career, the documentary also highlights the human side of the Romagna champion, a true legend of provincial football. Inside the footage, in addition to archive videos, the precious testimonies of great champions and coaches who in those years were close to the figure of Protti as whom Giuseppe Signori, Fabio Galante, Sandro Tovalieri, Walter Mazzarri, Cristiano Lucarelli and Giorgio Chiellini.
Written by Luca Dal Canto, Alberto Battocchi and Anita Galvano and produced by the cultural association Bredenkeik, the film is not just a sports commentary, but an analysis of the socio-cultural effects that figures like Protti have had on the curves and homes of all Italians, until his emotional farewell to football on May 22, 2005.
