"This is the bible of Pele's life," said the still lithe 64-year-old Brazilian star, who is considered a soccer god to millions of fans worldwide.

Appropriately for a man who was an artist on the soccer field, the movie was being screened at New York's Museum of Modern Art. It's a bit different from the last time Pele was seen on the big screen, in the 1981 Hollywood movie "Escape to Victory,' alongside Michael Caine and Sylvester Stallone, about a group of Allied PoWs who take on their Nazi captors.

Edson Arantes do Nascimento, or Pele, as he is simply known, was at the Manhattan museum among the Picassos, Matisses and Dalis, to introduce "Pele Eterno" (Pele Forever), which was being shown at the museum on Saturday and Sunday as part of MoMA's exhibition of Brazilian cinema.

Directed by Anibal Massaini, it tells the life of the player through the eyes of his family and former teammates. It includes historic footage, some of it 50 years old, of a few of Pele's 1,281 goals in a 22-year career, including tallies in Brazil's 1958 and 1970 World Cup final victories.

"The first goal I scored at Maracana (stadium in Rio), I was 16 and I only just saw it on film for the first time," he told Reuters in an interview in the museum's screening room.

That, he said, is what prompted him to approach Massaini to make the film, to document his achievements.

"I feel very happy because this is the bible of Pele's life. Because the young generation now have proof," he said.

However, as he pointed out, when he was breaking into the Santos team in Rio as a shy teenager with outrageous ball skills, TV was in its infancy, there was no videotape and matches were only filmed for newsreels.

"Everything you heard about movie stars and sports stars, we didn't have tape," he said, regretting that his father, a professional player named Dondinho, once scored five goals with his head in one game, but had no documentary evidence.

"My goal was for the new generation to compare, so they can say 'Oh, this is the legend.'"

When Pele came to the United States in 1975 to play for the Cosmos in the now defunct North American Soccer League, it was partly to promote soccer in the land of baseball and American football.

"I did a lot of clinics, but the young kids, they didn't know. They just knew my name."

But with the film, which took five years to make, Pele's feats will live forever.

"I now have proof for the new generation and my grandsons, when they grow. I will have something of my life to show them."

But it's not just a highlights reel, he said.

"This message for the new generation is about winning and self-confidence."