Private Project

Bochy & Les Bleus

What happens when three-time World Series champion Bruce Bochy is tasked with leading a motley crew of players representing France, a nation where baseball is pretty much invisible? Can Bochy’s magic touch transform its national team into winners, qualify them for the World Baseball Classic, and help bring them attention, resources and respect?
In "Bochy et Les Bleus", director and American expat Scott Stevenson – both a Bochy fan and a former coach in French youth baseball -- follows this unlikely crew on a seemingly endless roller-coaster ride, from Tucson, Arizona to Toulouse, France and all the way to Bavaria, as they push to achieve their individual and collective dreams. Early victories, shared enthusiasm and Bruce Bochy’s serenity-inducing leadership lead to the greatest of expectations, while the inherent poverty of French baseball, injuries and a certain pandemic pull the adventure into a completely different place. Through it all, Bruce Bochy guides the players -- French, but also, surprisingly, Venezuelans, Dominicans, Americans and Japanese -- to continue giving it their all, for the team, in the name of the love of the game. As the qualifying tournament finally approaches, nothing is guaranteed...

  • Scott Stevenson
    Director
    La Haine, The Staircase (as editor)
  • Daniel Fazio
    Producer
    The Walk, Any Creative Form
  • Caroline Waterlow
    Executive Producer
    OJ: Made in America
  • Bruce Bochy
    Key Cast
    "Self"
  • Scott Stevenson
    Writer
    La Haine, The Staircase (as editor)
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Bochy & Les Bleus
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 17 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    October 10, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    85,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    France, United Kingdom, United States
  • Country of Filming:
    France, Germany, United States
  • Language:
    English, French
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital, 4k
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Scott Stevenson

Scott Stevenson, a native Californian and a graduate of the UCLA Film and Television School, is a Franco-American film editor and director, as well as a baseball fan, based in Paris.

As an editor, he has worked in English and in French, on both narrative and unscripted projects. Films he has cut have been to Sundance, Cannes, Tribeca, Hot Docs and DOC NYC, and several of them have left their mark: "La Haine" won the Best Director award in Cannes and Césars (French Oscars) for best film and best editing; "Very Semi-Serious" (on The New Yorker magazine's cartoonists) received a News and Doc Emmy; the true-crime doc series "The Staircase" earned a Peabody, a Columbia/DuPont and an IDA award and, more recently, "LA 92" was honored with an Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking, as well as the Television Academy's Honors award, recognizing programs that have inspired social change.

In addition to winning a César for "La Haine", Scott has also been nominated for an Emmy for "Very Semi Serious" as well as for Eddie and Cinema Eye Awards for "LA92".

While Scott has co-written and co-directed on multiple occasions, "Bochy et les Bleus" is his first solo project.

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Director Statement

In late 2019, when the French Baseball Federation announced that they had enlisted Bruce Bochy to manage their men’s national team in the World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, multiple bells went off in my head. As an American expat who had spent 12 years inside French baseball, both as a dad and as a coach of youth teams, I was excited to see its leadership aim for the stars with a man with such a great baseball mind. As a lifelong fan of the San Francisco Giants, I was thrilled to know that it was him, the man who led “my” team to three titles! But especially, as a filmmaker, I knew there would also be many compelling stories to tell:

- One about Bochy, leaving behind sold-out stadiums and huge victory parades for this new and very different adventure;
- One presenting his crew of old-school, retired American coaches, coming back to once again live and share their lifelong passion;
- Another, shining a light on the lean and hungry French baseball die-hards, committed to a sport ignored in their country and dying for that to change;
- And finally, that of the international players who, having fallen short of making it to the top of their game, had somehow landed in France and were now getting a second chance of playing on the biggest of stages.

Now, all assembled under their blue caps adorned with a capital “F” for France, they would be working towards a common goal: to get Les Bleus into the world championships!

While doing a deep dive into the inherent baseball action and built-in drama as they chased that goal – practices, pep talks, scrimmages, tournament games – I also sought to capture the space the players and coaches had come to share on this unique road trip. A place where the magnetic pull of France and a common passion for baseball intersected with all their stories and their collective goal to create something larger than the sum of its parts.

While filming, I came to realize that their journey somehow mirrored my own as a filmmaker -- traveling down bumpy roads, chasing oversized dreams – but especially my voyage as their number one fan. Team France tries to make it to the World Baseball Classic finals? With Bruce Bochy? How could I not share their hopes and desires? So, while striving to not forget my job of taking the film to the finish line – my editor’s brain would not let it be otherwise – I stepped in as narrator and occasional on-camera participant all the same, to bring the viewer, like an old friend, to share my front-row seats to something he or she had never seen before.