The shooting phase of the highly anticipated film Heysel 85 has wrapped. The film, directed by Teodora Ana Mihai (La Civil), is a compelling and gripping interpretation of the tragic events that took place at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels on 29 May 1985, during the final match of the European Cup between Liverpool and Juventus. The disaster, which had a lasting impact on the football world, took the lives of 39 people and left hundreds injured. Using fictionalised characters, Heysel 85 immerses the viewer in what may have taken place in the underbelly of the stadium that night, where panic and helplessness coalesced in an attempt to contain the chaos. Kinepolis Film Distribution (KFD) will release the film in Belgian cinemas in autumn 2026.
‘Heysel 85’ tells the story of Marie (Violet Braeckman), the daughter of the mayor of Brussels and also his press attaché, and Luca Rossi (Matteo Simoni), a journalist with Italian roots. As chaos spreads in the stadium, they face the complex struggle between their professional duty, family ties and the human tragedies unfolding before their eyes.
Besides Braeckman and Simoni, the cast includes Josse De Pauw, Ben Segers, Fabrizio Rongione, Paolo Calabresi and Bobby Schofield.
Belgian-Romanian director Teodora Ana Mihai, known for her profound and emotionally charged storytelling, is helming the film. With a production design that is both historically accurate and on the highest cinematographic level, she brings focus on the human dimension of the disaster: victims, relatives, survivors, and the emergency services who were at the heart of the drama. The filming of Heysel 85 took place in 2025, 40 years after the disaster.
Heysel 85 is produced by Menuetto in co-production with Les Films du Fleuve (BE), Topkapi Films (NL) and Leitwolf (DE), in association with Casa Kafka Pictures and Kinepolis Film Distribution (KFD). Heysel 85 is supported by the VAF/Film Fund of Flemish Minister of Culture Caroline Gennez, the Belgian tax shelter, the Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel (CCA), the Netherlands Film Fund through Realisation and Production Incentive, the MOIN Filmfund Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein and Creative Europe MEDIA. In addition, the economic fund Screen Flanders, an initiative under the authority of Flemish Minister for Economy Matthias Diependaele and Flemish Minister for Culture Caroline Gennez, invested in the production. Proximus and VRT are involved as co-production partners.
Heysel 85 will be released in cinemas in autumn 2026.
