Play with the Devil – Becoming Zeal & Ardor
Olivier Joliat, Matthias Willi, doc., 72 min., CH 2023
With his band Zeal & Ardor Swiss musician Manuel Gagneux was catapulted overnight from the underground to the big stages of the world. The bold mix of Black Metal and old work songs and field hollers by African-American slaves – his answer to a racist provocation on the Internet – is politically explosive.
Religion, racism, segregation and appropriation: With his music Gagneux is questioning and breaking taboos. But being praised as a new kind of leader by his fans frightens the introverted artist. How can he deal with the oversized expectations?
Festivals
Solothurner Filmtage 2023, Switzerland
38th DOK.fest Munich, Competition DOK.deutsch 2023, Germany
Music Film Festival Tilburg 2023, Holland
Filmtage Oberschwaben 2023, Weingarten & Ravensburg, Germany
38th Filmfest Osnabrück 2023, Germany
10th Doc’n’Roll Film Festival 2023, London & Cardiff, England
Musical Écran 2023, Bordeaux, France
DOC NYC 2023, New York, USA
Rokumentti Music Film Festival, Finland
24th Sound Unseen Film + Music Festival, Minneapolis, USA
BE Movies 2023, Berne, Switzerland
The film’s official website
FILM STREAM
Produced by soap factory GmbH and Recycled Tv AG in co-production with SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen
Written and directed by Olivier Joliat and Matthias Willi
Original version in Swiss German, English, German
with English, German or French subtitles, 72 Min.
World rights: soap factory GmbH and RecycledTv AG
Distribution Switzerland: Filmbringer AG, Bern
Crew
Producers: Frank Matter, Madeleine Corbat, Peter Guyer
Written and directed by Olivier Joliat and Matthias Willi
DOP: Matthias Willi
Location sound: Olivier Joliat
Edited by: Christian Büttiker
Music by: Manuel Gagneux
With Manuel Gagneux, Marco von Allmen, Rafaela Dieu, Marc Obrist, Tiziano Volante, Denis Wagner and many more
Production coordinator: Loredana-Nastassja Fernández
Development producer: Aline Pieth, culturelles GmbH
Production assistant RecycledTV: Kim Odermatt
Commissioning editors SRF: Urs Augstburger, Markus Wicker, Barbara Seiler
Sound design & mix: Peter von Siebenthal, Kathleen Moser, Anna Bühlmann, Projektstudio GmbH
Color grading: Peter Guyer
Video post-production: doc&post
Additional camera: Chrigu Blum, Christian Taro, Mike DeMellia, Manuel Bürkli, Zeal & Ardor
Assistant editors: Carmen Walker, Marlen Schmid
Titles design: Heinz Reber «H1», Büro Destruct
Art work & graphic design: Noé Herrmann
Website: bytes & bones, Klaus Affolter
Translations & subtitles: Apostroph Group on behalf of Swiss TXT AG – 2022
Research social media: T-Nice
Accountant soap factory GmbH: Kraft-Buchhaltungen, Christine Pasquier
Original music: Written and performed by Zeal & Ardor and Manuel Gagneux,
published by Bosworth Music GmbH & licensed by MVKA Limited,
courtesy of Bosworth Music & MVKA
Financial Support
Fachausschuss Film und Medienkunst BS/BL
Berner Filmförderung
Ernst Göhner Stiftung
Kulturfonds SUISSIMAGE
Migros-Kulturprozent
L’Unique Foundation | Rock’n’Roll with a Cause! (lunique-foundation.org)
Burgergemeinde Bern
Musikbüro Basel
BLKB Stiftung für Bildung und Kultur
Scheidegger-Thommen Stiftung