It opened yesterday in Milan in the Palazzo della Regione in the presence of the minister of sport Andrea Abodi and the IOC president, Thomas Bachwith the awarding of the Guirlande d’honneur – the highest Ficts recognition – among others Jean Alesi, Gianni Bugno, Antonio Cabrini, Novella Calligaris and Roberto Vecchioni the forty-second edition of Sport Movies & TV, a true world festival of sports cinema. Until Saturday 9 November in the Testori Auditorium of the Lombardy Region, in the Ficts headquarters in the Roman Amphitheatre, in the Newsstand in Corso Como 19, at the Brera International Center and at the Central Cinema in Via Torino you can watch (free of charge) 129 screenings of films from around the world, including 35 world premieres. This year’s edition has a particular value, because it represents the first half of a path that will lead towards the special 2026 edition, that of the Milan-Cortina Games and therefore presents a program rich in cultural proposals with a seminar, 4 meetings and 7 exhibitions will accompany the festival, which will also be attended by 150 international guests. From football to basketball, from athletics to the Olympic challenges, to motor racing, to Paralympic feats, to great cycling, there will be space for great athletes, great authors and great stories. And just a few examples are enough to realize how sport and cinema are often a magical “mixture”. Like the 24 Hours of Le Mans that in «Baptism of Le Mans» directed by Fabien Lasserre and Maxime Bénéteau tells the epic story of a challenge that remains a grail that all manufacturers and drivers dream of winning. The lives of two brothers intertwine who are about to realize a childhood dream: to participate together in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a team of their own. However, as often happens at Le Mans, nothing ever goes as planned. Or like «Fight to the ball” directed by Christian Nicoletta which tells the story of a football coach in Ghana who has been transforming kids from the poorest areas of Kumasi into professional footballers for 55 years and giving them the tools to become architects of their own future through discipline, study and hard training. And then cycling, the “mother” discipline of all stories. From the «Pirate Sky» directed by Roberto Carulli and Stefano Rizzato which brings together the trail of memories, dazzling at first and then painful that Marco Pantani left behind him «The Unted» by Sebastian Dehnhardt (Germany) who brings to life the most important stages of the career of cycling legend Jan Ullrich commented by himself. Or how finally the black and white story with «Ottavio Bottecchia El Furlan de Fero» directed by Franco Bortuzzo (Italy) which traces the life of this unknown cyclist who in a few years in 1925 and 1926 won the Tour twice. The sudden death of his beloved brother, hit by a car, suddenly changes his destiny and a bicycle accident costs him his life. The voice of around thirty people including historians, writers, actors and relatives of the cyclist reconstructs the incredible sporting story of Ottavio Bottecchia and tries to provide further details and clues about his mysterious death.