cph:dox 9-17/11 The Substitute
An excellent idea. A filmmaker gives a football star a camera and asks him to film from inside during the world cup championship in Germany 2006.
And luckily for the film, but bad and sad for the player, he only plays very few minutes during the many matches that led his national team, France, to the final.
This enables the filmmaker – who is also filming in between, and who is also using the grainy, scratchy super 8 film material, that is wonderful to watch in times of sterile video images – to put together a story about the many lonely moments in the hotel room, the loong corridors, the many books to read, the constant surveillance of security people – and first of all the many fine reflections that Dhorasoo makes about his situation. He is there as one of the 23 in the team at the finest football competition of all, betrayed by the coach, who took ”the neighbours son” to play instead of him!
It’s a fine minimalistic film that has its own melancholic tone and is fascinating to watch. Do so!
The Substitute
France, 2007, Fred Poulet & Vikshar Dhorasoo
More about the festival: http://www.cphdox.dk/d1/front.lasso
