Filmed during a Real Madrid match (versus Villareal on April 23, 2005) in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, it’s 92-minute length equals exactly that of the actual game, but contrary to traditional television broadcasts, it is not the ball which is the focal point of the action. Instead, 17 synchronised cameras distributed around the entire stadium are directed solely on Zidane...

'It all started exactly nine years ago, in 1996. It started in Jerusalem. It was Haifa.
I can’t remember exactly the genesis of the thing, but we were playing football, we talked
about football and after that we’d email about football, and if I was in Paris it just so hap-
pened that whenever I’d come to Paris there were amazing games. Before 1998, we had
already decided we wanted to do something. We made a decision to do something with
Zidane, I’d say in 1997.'
Douglas Gordon


'The day of the shooting, some interviews of the players of the opposing team were pub-
lished, they said that they would do everything they could to keep Zidane from playing a
good game, so that we wouldn’t have much to film. So in a way, the fact that we were
shooting influenced the event, and that was slightly traumatizing'
Philippe Parreno


The affecting soundtrack includes the roar of the crowd accompanied by Mogwai, the Scottish
band formed in 1995, who have become one of the most influential post-rock bands.


It’s a footballer and football, as you have never seen them before...


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