In partnership with the Detroit-based film studio, Eightfold Collective, Detroit City FC [DCFC] has released a short film called “City Til I Die.” The film showcases the football club’s fans known as The Northern Guard Supporters, a group of passionate super-fans that have received national recognition for their enthusiasm and use of colorful smoke while cheering on the team at Keyworth Stadium in Hamtramck.
As the 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Eightfold Collective wanted to pay tribute to the fans that complete the experience that is a Detroit City FC game. While the season was canceled, season ticket fans took to Twitter urging the club to keep the money, something you may not always see from most fans in the world of sports.
“We had hoped that this film could serve as a great way to get everyone excited about the upcoming season. So when the season was canceled, we like everyone who is a fan of DCFC were really bummed. However, as things have progressed, we started to realize that the message of this film, about the importance and power of community, has never been more needed than it is right now,” stated Director of the film Kurt Schneider, when asked about what gave Eightfold Collective the inspiration to create the film.
“About two years before we began filming I saw a picture online that showed a mass of crazed looking individuals immersed in a cloud of colorful smoke. It was such a visually compelling image that I just wasn’t able to shake from my memory,” he added. “I later discovered that these crazed individuals were fans of a local soccer club called DCFC. After going to my first game I knew that I had to find a way to tell part of their story. My producer, Nico Poalillo, got us in touch with Andrew Goode, who runs a blog on the team called Boys in Rouge, and he really helped us to get connected to the right people.”
Getting in touch with a handful of supporters, the team at Eightfold gained a glimpse into not just the Northern Guard, but also the overall community impassioned with support for Detroit City. Coming at a time when the idea of community is more important than ever, Eightfold Collective took the opportunity to showcase the strong roots both fans and the football club have in the Detroit and Hamtramck community.
“There are already a handful of films made that showed the Northern Guard (DCFC’s Supporter Group) from an outsider’s perspective, so we wanted to try and approach it differently,” shared Schneider. “As I got to know some of the NGS members, what really fascinated me about them was the fact that behind all of the smoke, masks, and f-bombs, was one of the most loving and supportive communities that I had ever seen. Telling the personal story of Amanda Jaczkowski, a NGS member who the previous season had gotten into a terrible biking accident, was the perfect way to show the true power of a loving community in action.”
The short film drops today and can be watched here on Eightfold Collective’s Vimeo account.
