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Mexico's First Women's Soccer Team Gathers to Watch TAN CERCA DE LAS NUBES at the 21st FICM

Omar Sosa Topete

During the 21st Morelia International Film Festival (FICM), Morelia-born director Manuel Cabiñe, accompanied by Oscar Del Cueto, President and Executive Representative of Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), presented his new documentary Tan cerca de las nubes (2023), which is participating in the Michoacán Section.

"We (CPKC) are always looking to promote these types of documentaries and films that talk about what makes us proud to be Mexican." Del Cueto thanked EFICINE for the existing mechanisms that promote filmmaking in Mexico.

The events of the film take place in 1971 when Mexico had its first Women's Soccer Team and hosted the Second Women's Soccer World Cup. The final of the tournament was a dispute between the teams of Denmark and Mexico in the Azteca Stadium; the surprising thing about this event is that it had a record attendance of approximately 110 thousand spectators, a record that’s difficult to break because there is only one stadium, located in North Korea, with the capacity to hold that number of people.

"I am especially grateful to the protagonists of this story and the relationship we have forged over the years. I feel very excited and privileged to be part of their team, which has remained very close throughout more than 50 years. This movie was made for them," Cabiñe told the women of the historical block portrayed in the film, present at the first screening of the documentary.

At the end of the screening there was a Q&A session where the ex-football players in attendance shared their excitement at seeing their young selves on the big screen for the first time.

"We would have done even more things, but we still have the satisfaction that we always represented our Mexico with all the fight, with all the courage, with all the empowerment of women," said Lourdes De la Rosa, ex-football player, about the support received and the limitations imposed by the authorities of soccer and the country.

Beyond an exchange of questions and answers, a very emotional dialogue happened between several women from the audience and the ex-football players, showing their admiration and emphasizing the significance of the first Women's Soccer Team in the history of Mexico.