Teodora Ana Mihai Talks ‘Heysel 85’ & Plans For Next Feature — Tokyo

After a buzzy debut almost eight months ago in Berlin, Teodora Ana Mihai has finally begun the international launch of her latest feature, Heysel 85, and this week the Romanian-Belgian filmmaker is at the Tokyo Film Festival, where the film has received its Asian premiere.

Directed by Mihai, from a screenplay she co-wrote with Lode Desmet and Isabelle Darras, Heysel 85 is inspired by the 1985 Heysel Stadium disaster in Brussels, where 39 people died ahead of the European Cup Final between Liverpool and Juventus.

“This is one of those moments in Belgium that’s comparable to 9/11 in the US. It was a huge event; people were shocked,” Mihai says of the disaster’s legacy in Belgium.

“Belgium is divided in many ways. We have different language-speaking communities. But everyone is united on this: What happened there should not have happened. The shock is shared, and it still lives on today.”

Mihai’s story follows Marie, the mayor’s daughter (Violet Braeckman), and a journalist of Italian origin (Matteo Simoni) covering the match for Italian TV, accompanied by family. Before kick-off, hooligans go on the rampage. Dozens of people die; chaos ensues. While continuing to report, Luca searches for his family. And Marie has to step in for her father, who, drunk and overwhelmed, is no longer capable of taking command. The politicians and police are faced with the question: cancel the match or let it go on?

Mihai says she only considered tackling the Heysel story after her producer, Hans Everaert, suggested she take a look at some material on the disaster.

“I didn’t jump at it right away,” Mihai says. “I wondered, ‘Am I the right person to tell this story?’ There were so many reasons why I shouldn’t. But perhaps because it was outside my comfort zone, I should do it. Maybe I could make something of it that people wouldn’t expect—and that’s not always a bad thing.”

Mihai adds that she was particularly interested in football’s “metaphorical potential,” which made it the “perfect backdrop for saying something existential.” Mihai’s intentions are clear throughout. Heysel 85 doesn’t spend much time recreating the deadly events; the picture instead focuses on interrogating the structural flaws that allowed it to happen.

The film is constructed using a mix of archival footage from the disaster and live action sequences that Mihai shot on vibrant 16mm on the advice of her DoP Marius Panduru, whom she describes as “one of the best cinematographers in Romania.”

“He told me from the very beginning, ‘If you want the archive to look as close as possible to what we’re going to film, 16mm is the way to go. Forget about filters; you can get close, but it’s never going to be the same.,’” Mihai says of Panduru’s advice. “This is our third film, and we’re preparing our fourth. I like to keep my collaborators close if the collaboration goes well.”

16mm celluloid film meant Mihai had to slash days off her production schedule to cut costs.

“We didn’t have a lot of time; a lot of it was quite impulsive, but the right attitude and energy were there,” she says. “I really believe the production looks better than the money we had available. Everyone was committed.”

Mihai’s two previous feature titles are Waiting for August (2014) and Traffic (2024). Heysel 85 opens in Belgium on November 18 via Kinepolis, and in the UK on November 20 through Icon.

“There’s been a lot of positive buzz, but you can never know until it’s out there,” she says of the upcoming release. “We premiered in Berlin, and then we had to wait. The distributor decided to release it at this time of year because it’s better for films in general. In the summer, we want to make the most of the little bit of sun we have in Belgium, rather than sit in the cinema, so I’m very curious.”

In the meantime, Mihai says she is already back at work, working on her fourth feature, currently titled Two Lives, which she describes as a chamber piece about two brothers and their respective families.

“It starts as a happy summer holiday that they repeat every year. Then tragedy strikes, and one of the brothers dies,” Mihai says. “The film becomes about his widow and how she crumbles from all sides but still has to function because she has two teenage boys. The film looks at this woman, whom everyone expects to keep functioning, because there’s no pause button on motherhood.”

Mihai adds: “It’s a very uncomfortable project. I love it. Hopefully it will make people think. I’ve always loved the mirrors that cinema and art hold up to us, and I hope this will be one of them.”

The Tokyo Film Festival runs until Nov 4.