Game on: ‘This is Football’ documentary series debuts at Seattle events

Story by Jennifer Warnick | Images by Connor Surdi and Joshua Trujillo

Footballers, filmmakers and fans celebrated the upcoming launch of the new documentary series “This is Football” at separate events in Seattle this week.

The trailer for “This is Football” played for tens of thousands of fans at CenturyLink Field Wednesday evening, and one episode of the six-part series premiered Tuesday evening at Seattle’s historic Cinerama movie theater.

Presented by Starbucks and Amazon, “This is Football” shares powerful, human stories as told through the lens of the world’s most popular sport. The six, hour-long films take viewers from Rwanda to Iceland and Japan to Spain, exploring the profound ways in which football unites people across continents, languages, religions and cultures. Each episode has a theme based on universal elements of the human experience as they intersect with football — redemption, belief, pride, wonder, chance and love. The series will be available for streaming worldwide on Aug. 2 through Amazon Prime.

Here are some moments from the celebrations.

Fans at CenturyLink Field Wednesday watch the “This is Football” trailer at halftime of the friendly game between Seattle Sounders and German powerhouse Borussia Dortmund of the German Bundesliga football club.

Brandi Chastain, two-time World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist, greets fans at CenturyLink Field Wednesday. Chastain’s story appears in one of the episodes of “This is Football” and she was visiting Seattle to promote the documentary series.

The team behind “This is Football” — Arlette Peyret, James Erskine, Jos Cushing, Adam Bullmore, Joe Roth, Howard Schultz, Brandi Chastain, John Carlin and Raimon Masllorens — watches the Seattle Sounders play at CenturyLink Field on Wednesday.

Fans got a sneak peek at an episode of “This is Football” Tuesday evening at Seattle’s historic Cinerama movie theater.

Brandi Chastain and other moviegoers at Cinerama watch the “This is Football” episode, “Belief,” which details the explosive growth of women’s football in the U.S. and Japan and tells the riveting story behind several FIFA Women’s World Cup competitions.

International journalist and author John Carlin, who helped write “This is Football,” visits with Brandi Chastain before the screening of an episode of “This is Football” at Cinerama.

Brandi Chastain hugs Rumi Utsugi, a member of Japan’s 2011 World Cup championship team who currently plays for the Seattle Reign, at the premiere of “This is Football” at Cinerama. Both women were featured in the episode “Belief” which includes the story of Japan’s unlikely victory at the 2011 World Cup, which occurred shortly after an earthquake and tsunami devastated the country.

International journalist and author John Carlin who helped create and write “This is Football” interviews filmmakers and soccer player Brandi Chastain following the screening of “This is Football” at Cinerama.