Landmark series explores inspirational stories of how football unites the world

This Is Football will launch on Amazon Prime Video in over 200 countries and territories worldwide

LONDON – 2 July 2019  - Amazon Prime Video has  today announced it has secured This Is Football, a six-part  premium documentary event series exploring the emotions, stories, passions and  triumphs at the heart of the world’s most loved sport. The series will launch 2nd  August 2019 exclusively on Prime Video  in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.

This is  Football is  produced by leading British indie, October Films, in collaboration with pre-eminent  Spanish TV and film production house Brutal Media, and Starbucks for Amazon Prime  Video.

This Is  Football (6x60’) unpacks the unique phenomenon that grips and  unifies billions of people from every corner of the globe. Across the episodes universal themes of the human experience  are explored: Redemption – football’s  uplifting role in rebuilding the soul of Rwanda after the genocide, Belief – the inspirational rise of  women’s football and two teams who gave everything to make it happen, Chance – the agony and the ecstasy of  the fates that humble champions and keep every fan believing in the impossible, Love - four stories from every corner  of the earth where the love of the game transcends adversity, Pride - how Iceland’s football Vikings  take on the world and give every underdog hope, and Wonder – unlocking the secrets of Lionel Messi’s genius and the  global delight of watching him play. Each story unfolds dramatically through  the experience of men and women of different races, cultures and creeds, all of  them remarkable, all of them united in their passion for football and chosen  from every continent on Earth.

The  series is written and co-created by award-winning foreign correspondent and sports  author John Carlin (Invictus), based  on an original idea by Carlin and Raimon Masllorens. The films are directed by  a team of award winning directors and producers led by Creative Director James  Erskine (Le Mans: Racing is Everything)  and Series Executive Producer, Jos Cushing (Walking  The Americas). The series is scored by Grammy Award-winning and  Emmy-nominated composer, Lorne Balfe (Inception).

Filmed across the globe from Iceland to Argentina, Spain to  Rwanda, China to the United States, and including a glittering cast of  characters from legendary players to presidents, poets to priests,  managers to mathematicians, This is Football creates a unique  and timeless portrait of the game and humanity  itself.

This Is  Football joins  Prime Video’s growing stable of sports docu-series and live sports, including All Or  Nothing: Manchester City; forthcoming live and exclusive Premier League football matches, US Open Tennis  and ATP World Tour Tennis events in the UK; and NFL games, all available to  watch on Prime Video at no extra cost to a Prime membership. 

“The  universal appeal of football is something we know resonates strongly with the Amazon  Prime Video audience worldwide, so I’m delighted that we are able to bring this  fascinating six-part series of unique stories about the world’s most talked  about sport exclusively to Prime Video,” said Vernon Sanders,  Co-Head of Television, Amazon Studios. “We’re thrilled to add This Is Football to our stable of award-winning docu-series and live  sports for Prime Video audiences around the world.”

Gina  Woods, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs for Starbucks: “Starbucks’  mission of inspiring and nurturing the human spirit brings customers and  partners together in our stores every day. While we do this through coffee,  football has a similar ability to unite people around the world across  boundaries of age, background and beliefs. It’s this shared spirit of  connection and values that drew us to the project and we’re thrilled to share it  with our partners and customers around the world.”

Adam  Bullmore, Managing Director of October Films and Executive Producer of This Is Football said: “Football is  now a universal language and everywhere you look, football is touching lives  and inspiring us in remarkable ways. So, we’re thrilled to be partnering with  Amazon Studios and Starbucks to bring these stories to a global audience.”

Raimon  Masllorens, CEO of Brutal Media and Executive Producer of This Is Football highlighted: “We cannot be more proud to have  teamed-up with our amazing partners for such a great match. It’s really a dream  come true that one of our most beloved projects, cooked in-house for such a  long time, is now a top tier TV series that will get to every home in the  world. Thanks to this team work I’m sure This Is Football will spread  the magic of football and their human stories among diverse and massive  audiences around the globe.”

Joe  Roth, Executive Producer of This Is  Football, added: “This is a fantastic series of stories that begin to  explain why it's the world’s most popular sport.”

This Is Football is a Starbucks Production. The Series Executive  Producer is Jos Cushing and Creative Director is James Erskine. The Executive Producers are Raimon Masllorens for  Brutal Media and Adam Bullmore for October Films, Joe Roth, and John Carlin.          

For more  information please contact:

Ellen Hughes,  Prime Video PR:
  E: ellhug@amazon.co.uk

Ana Rigby,  Starbucks Brand PR
  E: press@starbucks.com;  t: (206) 318-7100

Mark Ogle at OH  Communications:
  E: mark@ohcommunications.co.uk;  t: +44 (0) 7789 981 561

Ends.

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About October Films
  October  Films is an award-winning, innovative television production company and one of  the fastest-growing and truly independent production companies in the UK and  US. We are experts in unique and powerful story-led content. From specialist  factual, factual drama, hard-hitting current affairs and documentary to reality  and entertainment, we aim high. Our work has earned us over 100 prestigious  awards worldwide. October’s recent shows include:  How the Victorians Built Britain (Channel 5),  Journey in the Danger Zone: Iraq (BBC 2), Eight Days That Made Rome (Channel  5), Can Science Make Me Perfect? With Alice Roberts (BBC 4), Home Alone  (Investigation Discovery) From Russia To Iran: Crossing The Wild Frontier  (Channel 4), Dangerous Borders (BBC2), Motorheads (BBC Brit), David Jason’s  Secret Service (Channel 4), The Bulger Killers: Was Justice Done? (Channel 4);  and Annie: Out of the Ashes (BBC3). The company is currently in production on  multiple series for Channel 4, the BBC, Investigation Discovery, Science Channel  and other platforms and networks worldwide.

About Brutal  Media
  Brutal Media is a trendsetting and creative tv  and film production company in Spain. We have created our unique way of  storytelling, from human emotions to the screen. We have developed our original  formats, created factual content, documentaries, documentary series and  scripted content: tv series and feature films.
  Our last works include the original formats This is Opera (Beta Films/TVE) and This is Art (Movistar/TV3), broadcasted  in more than 70 territories, El Paisano (TVE), La Paisana (TVE), El Foraster  (TV3), El caçador de veritats (TVE), Òpera en Texans (TV3), Yayoma (TV3), El  Gran Silenci (TV3), Laia (TV3), Tornarem (TVE, TV3), Felipe y Letizia (Mediaset),  Tita Cervera (Mediaset). And now we are producing two feature films: Te quiero, imbécil and La Vampira de Barcelona and a series, The Roller Girls (TV3 and a platform ), as  well as other programs for tv networks.

About Starbucks
  Since 1971, Starbucks Coffee  Company has been committed to ethically sourcing and roasting high-quality  arabicacoffee. Today, with more than 30,000 stores around the globe, Starbucks  is the premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the world. Grounded  in our mission and values, Starbucks highlights stories that celebrate and  inspire the human spirit. Through storytelling and shared connections, we are  committed to amplifying and developing content that is both original and  created in partnership with others with a singular goal: featuring the best of  the human experience and communities around the world. Previous credits include  Upstanders (1, 2), Hingakawa, To Be Human, 1st &  Main and more. For more information, visit stories.starbucks.com and follow @StarbucksNews.