A deceptively simple set-up: the director and his father watch a 1988 football match which the father refereed, their commentary accompanying the original television images in real time. A Bucharest derby between the country’s leading teams, Dinamo and Steaua, taking place in heavy snow, one year before the revolution that toppled Ceaușescu.
Direction
Porumboiu turns sports footage into excavation of personal and national memory.
Editing
2014 commentary layered over 1988 broadcast creates temporal vertigo.
Director
Corneliu Porumboiu
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Adrian Porumboiu was one of Romania's most controversial referees, later becoming a wealthy businessman accused of corruption—making his 'correct decisions' in the film doubly loaded.
The 1988 match occurred one year before the Romanian Revolution; Steaua was the army team, Dinamo the secret police team—making this literally a match between the forces that would tear the country apart.
RO
