“Last Resort”: A Film of Fictional History and Journalistic Adventure in Argentina’s Soccer World.

“What would have happened if Argentina won a World Cup before the first known one?” asks the Argentine director together with the two protagonists of the film: Maria Villarwho plays Laura, a journalist for a humble sports magazine, and Tamara Leschnerwho plays Julia, a young woman who decides to carry out her communication practices in that publication.

With the boost of having been the opening film of the last edition of the Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival, Last resource It now arrives at Argentine theaters to show the general public, according to Szulanski, a story of “journalism, soccer, investigation, friendship, enmity and passion.”

a funny fiction

It all begins with the arrival of an anonymous package to the sleepy and decadent newsroom of the magazine. The first of several shipments with clues that point to the fact that the first World Cup was held in Argentina in 1926 and not in Uruguay in 1930. And that the hostess won it thanks to the gallantry of a Jewish-Argentine player who knew how to humiliate a Germany with his goals that had among its footballers Josef Mengelewho in true history was the Nazi criminal known as the “Angel of Death”.

A mystery that fuels Laura’s journalistic nose and leads her to undertake an investigative adventure with her pupil to clarify if everything is true or false.. What if the Nazis, already in the 1940s, managed to erase that first World Cup from official history?

“History is a script that happened to me Maximilian Rodriguezthe scriptwriter, in 2018. He is a football fan and he really likes El Gráfico magazine, and he was also very interested in how journalism was changing, which before was perhaps more adventure, more analogical research, and now, I don’t want to generalize, but it’s more from the office than from the street, right?” explains the 31-year-old director.

Villar, who wanted to participate as soon as she read the script, defines her character as “a 40-year-old woman, somewhat resentful, obsessed with information” and considers it “a challenge” to embody her because she is not generally summoned for that type Of papers.

“It seemed new to me, it scared me in a good way. And then came the shooting and the truth is that I said: ‘I’m having a particularly good time’. And that’s how the four weeks went, the filming was very nice“He points out about the filming, which took place between June and July 2022, months before Argentina won its third World Cup, which would have been its fourth if the film – which is 100% fiction – was real.

Szulanski reveals that one of the first titles thought for the film was “The world champions”, something that he discarded after the triumph in Qatar, because it could be “too redundant”.

Leschner’s debut

This film will always be special for Leschner, since it is his film debut: “I remember that when Matías sent me the script, I was working in a factory, and I started reading it right there. I thought the role was going to be minor and when he told me which of all the roles he was going to play I couldn’t believe it”.

“When I started shooting the film I was about to receive my degree (title), I’m actually a food engineer and I worked in that, but I always knew that after finishing studying I wanted to resume acting, but I didn’t think it would be like so suddenly,” says Tamara, who is 27 years old and had studied acting and music – she even plays the flute in the film – before focusing on her university studies.

Szulanski made his first feature film, the small production “Incomplete replacement”, in 2016, after which many others arrived “a little bigger, but just as calmsuch as the comedy Juana Banana (2022).

Of Jewish origin and with no family film history, he was tempted to make films at the age of 19, and hopes that “Last Resort” will reach as many viewers as possible.

“You need money for certain things, but you can also make a movie without money. My first movie cost 2,000 pesos to make. Obviously it has many, many limitations, but it’s a movie. I’m always of the idea that it’s better to make a movie like this, very small, to have the best script or project, but not to do it”, he concludes.