Former England captain, Sol Campbell has thrown his support behind Amnesty International’s first ever football film festival, Sidelines, which is taking place in London ahead of the Brazil World Cup.  

The festival, which runs from 6 - 8 June at Hackney Picturehouse, will be a weekend of thought-provoking films based around sport and human rights, including the UK premiere of Eric Cantona’s new documentary about Brazil, Looking for Rio.

Alongside the films there will be Q&A’s with directors and panel discussions looking at racism and homophobia in football, the responsibility major sports bodies have to challenge human rights abuses in host countries and women in football.

The festival is a partnership between Amnesty International UK, Picturehouse Cinemas and football quarterly The Blizzard.

On supporting Sidelines, Sol Campbell, said:

"It's a myth that football and human rights shouldn't mix. You only need to look at the issues around racism in recent years to realise what an important role human rights should play in football. So I'm delighted to be supporting Amnesty for their first ever football film festival.

"The festival will be a great chance to put a spotlight on the discrimination, such as racism and homophobia, that both spectators and players still sadly deal with in our stadia.”

"It’s also a great opportunity to debate the human rights issues often forgotten about when a major sporting event comes to town.”