The Producers

Frederick Mansell - Director

Educated as a journalist, Frederick spend the first few years of his professional career with the Dutch public television working in investigative journalism, resulting in price winning television programs and personal portraits. Frederick gave up his contract to join forces with Laurens by establishing documentary company Dimdocs. Together they started to create a unique mix of current affairs subject, character driven stories and in depth documentary storytelling. Their films are shown around the globe on festivals and broadcasted by dozens of tv-stations.

Laurens Samson - Director

Right after he graduated from university Laurens decided he would become one of the youngest Middle East correspondents in Dutch newspaper history. After a few years, dozens of articles and an applauded debut book, Laurens switched to documentary filmmaking. The feature length debut Team Gaza turned out to be the bright start of a series in depth documentaries in the Middle East (followed by Ultras of Egypt in Egypt and City of two springs in Iraq). As a duo with his companion Frederick he travels the world portraying people resulting in unforgettable stories that touch both head and heart.

Making The Film

Directors' Statement
Working in the Gaza Strip we became aware of a distorted reality. On the one hand there was this image portrayed in many media outlets: known stories of endless cycles of bombs, grenades, violence and vengeance. On the other hand we witnessed the daily lives of so many citizens in Gaza, a tiny sliver of land with two million people. These lives were filled with human dreams, hopes, fears and desires that we could easily relate to. When the guns were quiet they tried to resume their path, but hardly anyone would know because the camera’s moved out, waiting for the next escalation. So we decided to do the opposite and portray the everyday life in Gaza.

The everyday life is set in circumstances that are called dire for over a decade: surrounded by walls, restricted by closed off borders, under pressure by the insecurity of so many basic needs and living in a state of constant fear. And still people try to make the best out of it. They plan a wedding, they found solace in religion or they exercise to fight.

Once we came across the football team of the Al Shatea, better known as Beach Camp, a refugee camp turned into a concrete neighbourhood of capital Gaza City, we knew this was the epicentre of the film. All different walks of life united in the football team, in an arena of passionate support and highly needed distraction. After personal meetings with nearly the entire first team and staff we decided to stay. During the season 2015 / 2016 we filmed for over two months in Gaza and came closer to our characters than we had ever imagined. The football was of secondary importance, but provide a welcome start and endpoint. The characters will never disappear from our thoughts, especially when there is a new spark of violence and all other camera’s move in again.

Frederick Mansell, Director