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Brighton Bandits is the first ever in-depth documentary about a gay soccer team. It debunks the myth that gay men don’t play soccer. The Bandits were crowned Gay Soccer League Champions in 2006 in England. In following the team’s quest to retain their title, Brighton Bandits not only captures the passion for soccer in the gay community but also allows the players to emerge as people with bold and poignant stories to tell. They also raise issues that trouble them from the camp hedonism of the gay scene to the future of a Gay Soccer League. Sprinkled with humor and pathos, Brighton Bandits moves rhythmically between thought-provoking views to soccer action. With no commentary and no musical score in the film, the voices of the players and the sounds of the pitch keep it raw and real.
Ian is Course Leader for the MA programmes in: International Sport Policy; Sport, Culture & Media; and Sport, Culture & Society. He is co-editor (with Ben Carrington) of Race, Sport and British Society (2001, Routledge), and Marxism, Cultural Studies and Sport (2009, Routledge). He is co-editor (with Jennifer Hargreaves) of the Routledge Critical Studies in Sport Series. Ian is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Sport and Social Issues, and of Sport and Society.
Ian is also a documentary maker and film festival programmer. In 2007, he completed Brighton Bandits, about the city’s gay football team and Inside the Kalari, about a martial art from South India called kalarippayattu. In 2008, he completed a short documentary, A Lonely Vigil, about one man's desire to remember the first and only openly gay footballer, Justin Fashanu. His documentaries have been screened at film festivals around the world. He is currently working on a number of documentary projects: these include a film on William Kentridge, an internationally acclaimed artist from South Africa; a documentary about a campaign to challenge homophobia in football; and a documentary about blind chess players in India. Ian is secretary of the Brighton International Film Society.
