In his series of web documentaries Fanáticos, documentary filmmaker Damien Chemin focuses his camera on the social function of football. From unknown teams in a far Brazilian region to anonymous players from various social classes and regions in Brazil, where football is still entirely a collective experience. Often football is also a form of self-expression, or a search for an identity for a population with so many mixed origins.
Chemin gives the floor to people who usually don't appear in the mainstream media. He is interested in them not so much because of their extraordinary sporting achievements, but because of their excessive passion, which is usually very moving and behind which often hides a struggle for survival and a search for identity.
FANÁTICOS presents itself as a series of 3-minute capsules which has been broadcast during the world cup 2014 on RTBF, CANVAS and the website of the daily newspaper De Morgen.
