When I left my job at the Swiss daily newspapers Tribune de Geneve and 24 Heures 3 months ago, I wanted to finish a film I had been working on for the past 4 years.
I reached that goal yesterday. The documentary is not completely done but it is close. It tells the story of a wild and brutal murder of a young fan by a crowd at half-time of a major soccer derby in Argentina. Originally, I just wanted to write the script and give it to an editor, but I quickly figured out it would make more sense to edit the film myself because the complex story structure required me to try out building the scenes to see if the script worked.
I kept going until yesterday. I had never edited a feature film before. But after all these years working with exceptional editors on my films, I felt ready to do so. For the past 3 months, I edited every single day from dawn until dusk. I went back to Argentina this month to shoot a scene in a prison that almost got canceled a few hours before I was about to shoot it. But journalism is the art of adapting quickly to a situation or to an environment and I was able to rescue this scene. And this past Sunday, I was finally able to export the rough cut of the film. I can't describe the sense of achievement I felt at that moment.
If you have ever been in a stadium during a soccer game, I believe this film will speak to you. Among the many highlights of the documentary, you will be able to watch Mario Kempes, who won the World Cup in 1978 and who is one of the most important soccer players in Argentina alongside Maradona and Messi. The murder took place in the stadium bearing Kempes' name in Cordoba and the opportunity to interview him was a special moment for me.
This film was made possible by many people, starting with my friend German Nocella, an incredible director of photography who believed in this crazy project 4 years ago, and also Lila Place, a truly exceptional editor with whom I learned a lot about editing while she edited 2 of my films. I would like to also mention Yannick Constantin, Agustin Barrigo and Elia Lyssy, who shot some of the images you will be able to discover in the film next year.
This project started in Montevideo in May 2017 when I met Kevin Gissi, a Swiss-Argentinian soccer player who suggested I should make a film on the Argentinian Barra Bravas (hooligans). And so I did. There are some incredible characters in this film. And I am forever indebted to 2 families for trusting me and for sharing their story with me. I will write more about them and about the film soon. So stay tuned.
The Mario Kempes stadium where we shot IN THE CROWD in Cordoba, Argentina.