Swiss premiere and live talk with refereeing legend Abraham Klein

Directed by: Alessandro Della Villa & Alessandro Moscatt | Short Film | IT, 2021 | 18 min | Language: Italian | Subtitles: English

1982 is the year when Italy's government begins to gain the upper hand in its decade-long struggle against the Red Brigades. The year of Roberto Calvi's death, the Italian banker found hanged under London's Blackfriars Bridge. The year of the Falkland War, fought between Argentina and the United Kingdom. The year of the Sabra and Shatila massacres in the outskirts of Beirut, during the Lebanese Civil War. In the midst of all this, there is a World Cup going on in Spain and Abraham Klein must decide whether to referee what will prove to be one of the greatest matches in football history.

“1982 Italy-Brazil” tells the dramatic human story that Abraham Klein, the famous football referee, lived as background of one of the most important match of 1982 FIFA World Cup. The movie has been presented in Florence in December 2021, with the participation of Abraham Klein himself, and already won more than 10 prizes in many independent festivals around the world.

Alessandro Della Villa - Writer, director and producer
Alessandro Della Villa was born in Rome and moved to Tuscany in the middle of 90s. He started his activity of videomaker for passion, founding in 2011, together with Alessandro Moscatt, the independent production group “Obiettivo 51”. As part of Obiettivo 51 he worked mainly as Director, Director of Phoptography, Video Editor and Writer realizing more than 10 short movies and few videoclip and video-dance works.

Cristiano Burgio - Lead actor
Cristiano Burgio is known for 1982 Italia-Brasile (2021), The Drift (2014) and Il male perfetto (2018). He has worked as an actor in numerous theatres such as Arno Klein (TO), Teatro Alfieri (SI), St. Pauli Theatre (Hamburg, Germany), Teatro Magnolfi (PO), Compagnia Gen Verde (FI), Teatro Civico 14 (CS), Artes (PO), ChiPerEs (TO), La Ginestra (CT). He also performs as a guitarist and singer in various live music projects.

Abraham Klein – Refereeing legend and inspiration for the film
As one of the world's best referees, Abraham Klein was an official at three different FIFA World Cups. In 1970, the Israeli official refereed the match between England and Brazil, before taking charge of the legendary duel between Brazil and Italy in 1982. He also documented his entire career in minute detail, keeping everything from matchballs to yellow cards. In 2017 he donated parts of his collection to the FIFA Museum, including the matchball of the game Italy vs Brazil.