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ZU SEHEN AM
Do, 27.11. - 21.00 Uhr im Thalia
Fr, 28.11. - 22.45 Uhr im
Savoy
Was machten die Niederländer während der Fußball
WM 2002? Sie waren ausgeschieden und weinten im stillen
Kämmerlein. Einer kam heraus und fragte sich welche
Mannschaften noch schlechter wären: Bhutan im Himalaja
und Montserrat in der Karibik lagen auf Platz 202 und
203 der FIFA Weltrangliste und sollten nun gegeneinander
antreten. Die Organisation und Durchführung dieses
Ereignisses ist spannender und lustiger als jeder Spielfilm.
Begleiten sie beide Länder zu einem Spiel der anderen
Art, während Völlers Jungs Vizeweltmeister
wurden. Ein Film auch für Fußballhasser!!
30. Juni 2002. Endspiel der Fußballweltmeisterschaft.
Die ganze Welt schaut nach Yokohama, wo sich Brasilien
und Deutschland gegenüberstehen. Die ganze Welt?
Nein. In Thimpu, der Hauptstadt von Bhutan, versammeln
sich 22 000 Fans, um „das andere Finale“
zu sehen. Das zwischen den letzten Plätzen der
Weltrangliste, zwischen dem Himalaya-Königreich
Bhutan und dem britischen Protektorat Montserrat in
der Karibik.
Zwischen Platz 202 und 203. Regisseur Johan Kramer betont,
dass es nicht darum gehe, das schlechteste Team der
Welt zu ermitteln. Vielmehr wolle er zeigen, dass Fußball
als globale Sprache Völker verbinde: „Geht
nach dem Film aus dem Kino und spielt Fußball
mit Fremden!“ Kramer erzählt die Geschichte
eines einmaligen Treffens mittels Interviews und stimmungsvollen
Bildern des Ereignisses (gedreht auf 16mm). Bang bibbert
Bhutan dem Ballwechsel entgegen. Aber auch die Gegenmannschaft
bringt ein handfestes Handicap ins Spiel: Sie konnte
nur eine Woche auf einem Platz mit international üblichen
Abmessungen trainieren. 1995, ein Jahr vor Montserrats
Eintritt in die FIFA, hatte der Lavastrom eines Vulkanausbruchs
das Vereins-Spielfeld verkleinert... Anpfiff!
>> English
The Other Final is about making the impossible happen:
of cultural meeting, and social engagement. An old-fashioned
story in a modern world. The Other Final tells the story
about a remarkable football game, which captured the
imagination of the world. It was played on June 30th
2002, the same day that 4.1 billion people were watching
the final of the World Cup in Japan and Korea. The game
was played by the two lowest ranked Fifa-teams in the
world; Bhutan and Montserrat, (numbers 202 and 203 respectively).
Bhutan is a remote Himalayan kingdom with the most mountainous
terrain in the world and Montserrat is a small Caribbean
island with seven active volcanoes. The game was played
in the Changlimithang stadium, Thimphu, Bhutan. The
film uses football as a device to explore the very different
cultures of the two teams involved, but also to show
how football can prove to be a global language that
unites very different people and countries. By dynamic
cutting, the film explores the similarities, and the
differences between both cultures, as it follows the
build up and preparation for the game. The story is
told by people from all levels of both societies, in
their own words, to build up a picture of both cultures,
their attitudes to sport, and their cultural meeting.
The film begins on the island of Montserrat, and follows
both teams from the beginning of the project as an idea,
through to its culmination at the game itself, attended
by 25,000 spectators. Through the film, we are introduced
to a variety of people, from a Christian priest in Montserrat,
to a group of monks performing traditional music in
Bhutan, government ministers, local dignitaries, pop
stars. And of course, the football players, most of
who are not professional, and for whom the opportunity
to take part in this game was a dream come true. What
is perhaps most remarkable is that the game took place
without commercial sponsors and advertising. This sets
it in marked contrast to the World Cup Final, which
was a huge commercial gala. The game was free to attend
for spectators, and was undertaken in a spirit of good-sportsmanship.
In this sense, it was an opportunity for both countries
to garner international recognition, and to promote
a positive side of their nations, which have more obstacles
to development than most. Newspapers and television
stations from over fifty countries reported news of
the game, proof that there is still an appetite for
an old fashioned approach to sport, and that achievement
is not always about taking part, sometimes just getting
there is an achievement. The Other Final is the inside
story of this remarkable event.
Biography
Johan Kramer, who has always been a fanatic 8mm filmmaker,
has a background in advertising. In 1996, he co-founded
KesselsKramer, an international communications collective
in Amsterdam, where he has written and directed over
150 commercials for clients like Ben, Novib and Diesel.
Furthermore, he directed music videos for Dutch bands
like Johan and international artists like Tom Waits.
Last year, Johan made his first short film 'The day
Bob was saved by modern technology', which has been
selected for Resfest 2002, world's most prestigious
digital entertainment festvial that travels the word.
The same short is also playing at the International
London's Film Festival this year. In 2002 Johan finished
a short film ‘Toiletman’ and his first feature
length documentary ‘The Other Final’. At
the moment, Johan is working on a short film on greenhouse
gas emissions and writing scripts for future feature
and documentary-projects. And in his spare-time he's
still using his old 8mm camera once in a while.
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