These Mexicans inspired Croatia in the World Cup that could win

Edson Ramírez was 35 years old, he studied social communication at UAM Xochimilco and then director of the film at the Film Training Center, where he met Alfredo Sánchez, Salthiel López and Jorge Linares, his accomplices and partners in the production of a documentary. He inspired an entire country: Vatreni.

In 1998, still wounded by the war that earned her independence, Croatia jumped on the field at the World Cup in France and stole the spotlight when she reached the semi-finals of the tournament, where she fell in the local team. champion of the contest. Despite not having raised the trophy, the players of this selection became a symbol of their newly created nation. Ramírez told his story.

What is Vatreni?

Vatreni means fire, it's the nickname given to the Croatian national team when Croatia gained independence and the team began to exist. That's the nickname that was given to the selection, it's like saying "El Tri". to the Mexican team.

Is Vatreni your first film?

Yes, Vatreni is the first feature of any team that has worked on it. It's the first time that we realize such an important project.

How was born the idea of ​​making a documentary of the Croatian national team?

Like all ideas, I suppose, he was born into a conversation. We were taking classes at the Film Training Center and the director of photography, Jorge Linares, and I was talking about the kind of project we wanted to do and for one reason or another, this 1998 selection was in our heads, the football that has always been for us it was something very cute and we had in mind that this selection had a historical, social, very important, which could serve us to tell a moving story, a story to success and a story that also felt very current with all that is happening now in the world. It's a story that has all these questions about the nationalisms, migrations and separations that exist in different countries. All of these things have been added to have the story of this movie.

What is the history of Vatreni?

Vatreni, for me, is the story of a generation of footballers who, thanks to football, managed to win something that, for the Croatians, was very important because it was a feat that took place three years after the war. of independence has come to an end. So with this historical background, with this recent past that the Croatian people had been through, winning the third place in the World Cup, with this team, with this generation, was like having the greatest success that a nation could to have in any sport

The 1998 generation had legendary players, such as Slaven Bilic, Davor Suker and Robert Prosinecki, how did they manage to contact these players?

It was rather amusing. As we started with the project, we did the research, we did the film script, but we had no contact. Then the director of photography of the film went to Munich in an exchange and they invited him to a film festival in Zagreb. Being there, in one of the many film festival festivals, excited as we had to have a slight opportunity to contact someone, he told all the Croats that it was: "Hey, I want to make a documentary about your country, I want to make a documentary about football, about the national team. One of them, in one of these bars, in one of these parties, was the son of the technical director of the 1998 national team, Miroslav Blazevic, and he replied, "How do you want to make a film about Croatia in Mexico? We had this illusion, this desire and we said: "Ok, if you really want to do this movie, if you really talk to me seriously and you're going to take it seriously, mark me tomorrow, I have to go to my house, but Brand me and I will open all doors for this film to be made.

When did the project start?

The project started 3 and a half years ago.

The Balkan war is a complex period, with dark passages. How to address these issues in a film for a society that still has recent scars?

Playing these songs was very delicate, especially in Croatia. What we did was seize the human side, the emotions, the feelings, the feelings of these players, that we had to imagine being football players affected by the fact that there was war in their country during all these years. Because some played for Real Madrid, another for Milan, another for Juventus, but how did they feel when their parents, their wives, their children, their parents, brothers, friends were fighting in the war? This is a point on which we wanted to take the film, from the point of view of athletes who have suffered in one way or another from this conflict. From a non-political, yes social point of view.

How many interviews did you do?

For the whole documentary we did about 25 or 27 interviews, all of them are not part of the documentary, but many helped us to find the context, to understand the context, to find the story , these little details that we had to tell. In the film, we have at least 13 characters totally involved in this process and other characters who are around the event.

Who were the most accessible characters and who was the most difficult to contact?

It's funny, because the two most accessible characters were the most difficult to contact. One is Slaven Bilic, who was going through a very difficult time as technical director of West Ham United (Premier League team in England) and canceled the interview twenty times in six months. At the time when we had the interview, I think it was the character who spoke the most of the emotion, the feeling, of that feeling still deep in his heart, at the bottom of his head, with this scar and that was the most open in the whole film. The other character is Robert Prosinecki, especially with him, he was technical director of the national team of Azerbaijan, so we could not travel easily and we had to wait until the moment he decided to to get to Zagreb and we found it at that time. to be able to do this interview which was fundamental, being the character that it is. But by the time we met, he was playing cards, drinking coffee, was outrageously open to answer the interview.

How did you finance the film?

In the beginning, 100% of funding for early trips came in many forms: one came from our pockets and the second was that we made a small anchor for one of the trips we we made in Croatia and a third is that we got the support of a company called CTT, a Mexican rental company that helped us a lot with the equipment we needed to shoot. We also benefited from the support of the Film Training Center. At the end of the film, we had the support of four or five sponsors in Croatia who helped us finish the most difficult part, which was to pay the FIFA archival material. Among them were the Croatian National Bank in Zagreb, a brewery called Zagrebacka Pivovara, we had agreements with local Croatian television for archive material and that's where the budget we needed for finish the film was closed.

How many people participated in the project?

In the making of the documentary, we were five people. A sound engineer, a photographer, a photography assistant, a producer who did many jobs and me as a director. With little, you can do a lot.

What was the total cost of the film?

It is difficult to know, because no one has accused the film, but if I had to give a cost I would say about a million 800 thousand pesos, without paying wages, only those that had to be covered, and post-production.

Did you pay a salary in those years when you made the film?

Never, never. We paid our expenses: meals, stays, flights, but nothing more.

How many times have you traveled to Croatia?

We first traveled four times for filming and finally I made a long trip that lasted nine months and this trip was to close the film editing, in case we had need an interview, another translation, small details we had to close in Croatia, offers with local TV.

Was it difficult to work in Croatia?

Nothing. It's hard in the sense that their schedules and schedules are different, it's a country where vacations are holidays, it's not like in Mexico where no one is sitting anymore. There are more specific moments for everything, the work day is shorter, however, people who wanted to work with us gave themselves all the time with their hearts.

Croatia qualifies for the World Cup final, has advanced further than expected in the tournament and has already surpassed the achievements of the generation 98. This selection that is in Russia said that your documentary you partly inspired what you think.

It is very difficult to describe the feeling we have, especially because we had an approach, still in Croatia, with the technical director of the current team, Zlatko Dalic, and he really liked the film. When we invited him to the premiere, he directly told me: "This is a great motivation not only for the players but for the whole country". It was wonderful, especially to feel it first hand. Since the players saw it before a match against Nigeria in World Cup and expressed that it served as additional motivation, it exceeds all expectations that we could have had during the making of the documentary.

When was the film made in Croatia?

The premiere, on May 24, lasted three weeks in the theaters and just after the theatrical presentation, we made a unique presentation for the whole country on local television.

What was the reception?

I received the most beautiful messages that any director could receive. People tell me, "Thank you for making the movie, we never expected someone to tell the story that way."

Are you surprised that a Mexican did it?

They are surprised and delighted and also understand that as Mexicans we could tell the story without prejudice, from a slightly more neutral point of view.

Have you met any of the Croatian footballers currently in Russia?

We had a small but very small approach, with Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic at one of the national team 's training sessions, but no, it was not not really an approach with the players.

What does it mean for current Croatian players who grew up during the war and the separation of Yugoslavia from what you see in the documentary?

Something that happened during the whole process of the film is that the ex-players, the ordinary people, have said that in the years following the World Cup of 98, there was a unity widespread in the Croatian people. I think it still exists, but many of them talk about it being diluted in all those years where they had not won something so big and so important again. I think watching the movie helps them to refer to these feelings.

What can Mexico learn from vatreni?

You have to work hard. Many times, especially in an event of this type (the World Cup), you have to learn to support without criticism because it is very easy to support when you win, but not when you lose or when you had a bad match . We Mexicans have the feeling that when we won, we won everything and when we lost, we lost everything and I think we have to put ourselves in the middle, to support it is important to reach the goal. where he comes from. We must be proud to represent the country in the way we can and with the resources we have.

When & # 39; Vatreni & # 39; is it created in Mexico?

We hope very soon, we still have no release date.

Finally, who were your favorite football players in this World Cup in Mexico and Croatia?

Carlos Vela is one of my favorite players, I really like Guillermo Ochoa, I really like this kind of players. Ochoa could earn a lot more money in Mexico, I do not know, but no matter, he risked being in Europe, in a team bench, and for that you have to have a lot of money. # 39; energy. In Croatia, Modric and Rebic, both are very talented players, but Modric is that engine, that even though it's not seen, it still works, it's always encouraging, it's moving always something.