I learned today the drug dealers in Tunisia are just as wacky as they are here in the States in Yves Piat’s short film, Nefta Football Club. Open on two drug dealers in the middle of the desert transporting a large amount of cocaine via mule. Why mule? Because it’s trained to go directly to home base when you give it a set of headphones and play Adele’s Someone Like You. Unbeknownst to the stooge, he puts on the wrong song.
“…trained to go directly to home base when you give it a set of headphones and play Adele’s Someone Like You.”
Meanwhile, in town, two young soccer-loving brothers are heading home from a game of street soccer. While on their motorbike, they run into said drug donkey. The younger brother finds the large packages of drugs and tells his older brother they struck it rich with all this laundry detergent. The older brother knows precisely what the “detergent” is and rushes it home, hiding it under his living room sofa.
The rest of the short is a series of misunderstandings that all lead to a beautiful punch line of an ending. Nefta Football Club is a sweet and humorous tale that tells its story well and works its way to a punchline. The short is played real, and the comedy never gets buffoonish. It’s an as good example of a solid festival short that delivers on story and laughs.
Nefta Football Club screened at the 2019 Palm Springs ShortFest and HollyShorts Film Festival.
"…they struck it rich with all this laundry detergent"
