Selected for the BFI London Film Festival’s Thrill strand, Heysel 85 is an intense and immersive reimagining of one of football’s darkest nights. The film previously screened as a Special Gala at the Berlin International Film Festival, where its powerful blend of drama and documentary storytelling drew attention for its unflinching examination of the human and political forces surrounding the tragedy.

Described by Variety as “a tense political metaphor” and “an anxiety-inducing work of cinéma vérité”, they praised the film as “riveting at every turn” and a “stark reminder of the entwinement between soccer and corruption.” Gazettely calls it “a harrowing, claustrophobic examination of institutional rot” and “a formidable cultural critique”.

Heysel 85 stars Violet Braeckman (War), named a 2026 European Film Promotion Shooting Star, as the daughter of the Mayor of Brussels, alongside Matteo Simoni (Callboys), who plays a journalist drawn into the heart of the unfolding tragedy.

The stage is set at Brussels’ Heysel Stadium for the 1985 European Cup Final between Liverpool and Juventus. As thousands of fans descend on the ground, old club rivalries fuel the heated atmosphere, and the confrontation soon spirals into an eruption of violence. With the death toll quickly rising, the mayor’s daughter and an Italian journalist are drawn into the heart of the catastrophe, caught between professional duty, family loyalty, and moral responsibility.

An unflinching look at a moment that football might rather forget, the tragedy unfolds not merely as a historical reconstruction, but as a lived, moment-by-moment experience, right in the heart of the disaster.