Join us for a screening of the documentary THE LAST TABOO (2024) by the German filmmaker Manfred Oldenburg. After the film, we will have a discussion led by Dr. Sandy Frieden and some refreshments.

Agenda

1:30–2:00 p.m. – Welcome to the event & brief introduction to the film
2:00–4:00 p.m. – Film screening followed by a discussion
4:00–4:30 p.m. – Refreshments
The film will be shown in German with English subtitles.
 

About the Film

It's hard to imagine, but true: according to current estimates, fewer than 10 of the 500,000 active male professional soccer players worldwide are openly gay. While homosexuality hardly plays a role in other areas of life today, the topic seems to be completely taboo in professional soccer.

The feature-length documentary DAS LETZTE TABU (The Last Taboo) lets Thomas Hitzlsperger and others who have broken this taboo tell their very personal stories. British professional soccer player Justin Fashanu (1961- 1998), who broke this taboo for the first time in 1990 paid for it with his life. His story is told by his niece Amal. Marcus Urban, on the other hand, was on the verge of making the leap to the Bundesliga as a teenager and, with his decision to come out, also made a decision against his big dream. The stories of US pro Collin Martin and British player-coach Matt Morton, on the other hand, suggest that living a normal life is not so far away.

This film which shares the stories of players from very different backgrounds, increasingly raises the question of why the homosexuality is so hushed up in soccer in particular. Does homosexuality simply not fit the hyper-masculine image of the football star? Is there a fear that it could throw a spanner in the works of the high-performance marketing machine that is soccer? Or are players and fans today much more progressive than those in power in professional soccer? THE LAST TABOO gets to the bottom of these questions, not only telling the story of the soccer players, but also shedding light on a society in transition - a society that perhaps wasn't always as tolerant as it believed itself to be.

About the Speaker

Dr. Sandy Frieden taught German film at the University of Houston for 40 years, both face-to-face and online, and teaches now at The Women’s Institute of Houston. She has made dozens of presentations on German film, published more than fifteen articles on German cinema and literature, authored a study on German-language autobiography, and was lead editor for Gender and German Cinema: Feminist Interventions (Vol. 1 & 2).