08/05/2025 - The Belgian-Romanian director looks back at the tragic events of 29 May 1985, which cost the lives of 39 people and left a lasting mark on the world of football

Fabrizio Rongione, Violet Braeckman, Teodora Ana Mihai and Mateo Simoni in Heysel 85

On 29 May 1985, during the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus at the Heysel stadium in Brussels, uncontrolled crowd movements killed 39 people and injured hundreds more. That fateful day will always be remembered, and it prompted the international football authorities to introduce safety measures to avoid this kind of disaster. There is a before and an after to Heysel. The events also left a lasting mark on Belgian history, making Heysel 85 a highly anticipated film in the country.

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Belgian-Romanian director Teodora Ana Mihai has been entrusted with this daring project. It has to be said that the director is no stranger to hot topics, having won the Prix de l'Audace in Cannes’ Certain Regard for her film La Civil [+see also:
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Heysel 85 follows Marie, the daughter of the mayor of Brussels, who is also his press officer, and Luca Rossi, an Italian-born journalist. As chaos spreads across the stadium, they are faced with the complex struggle between their professional duty, their family ties and the human tragedy unfolding before their eyes. Between panic and powerlessness, they watch in shock as the drama unfolds. The filmmaker has chosen to focus on the human dimension of the disaster: the victims and their families, the survivors and the rescue workers who found themselves at the heart of the tragedy.

Marie is played by the young actress Violet Braeckman (known for her roles in Flemish series such as F*** You Very, Very Much, Over Water and Salamander). The role of Luca Rossi is played by Matteo Simoni (a very popular actor in Flanders, the hero of Gangsta [+see also:
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Heysel 85 is produced by Hans Everaert and Bo De Group for Menuetto, in co-production with Delphine Tomson and Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne Les Films du Fleuve (Belgium), Frans Van Gestel for Topkapi (Netherlands) and Anette Unger for Leitwolf (Germany), in collaboration with Casa Kafka Pictures and Kinepolis Film Distribution (KFD). The film received support from Vlaams audiovisuel Fond, Tax Shelter belge, and Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, from Nederlands Film Fonds, MOIN Filmfund Hambourg/Schleswig-Holstein and Creative Europe MEDIA, as well as from Screen Flanders, Proximus and VRT. Kinepolis Film Distribution will distribute the film in Belgian cinemas in autumn 2026.

(Translated from French)