The Mexican Football Coaching Guide

In this comedic docufiction, Javier (Javier Raphael) is a young man who has always wanted to be a football coach like his idol “El Chelís” (José Luis Sánchez Solá), but has never done anything to fulfill his dream. Now, guided by a nosy narrator (Jorge Pietrasanta), he will look for some of the most unorthodox amateur football coaches in Mexico, and for his beloved "Chelís", so that each one can give him lessons until he is fully trained to manage a match and thus become a true "Mexican football coach".

  • Michel Puertas
    Director
  • Michel Puertas
    Writer
  • Cid Galván
    Producer
  • Javier Raphael
    Key Cast
    "Javier"
  • José Luis Sánchez Solá
    Key Cast
    "El Chelís"
  • Daniel Eyer
    Key Cast
    "Blondie"
  • Jorge Pietrasanta
    Key Cast
    "The Narrator"
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    El Manual del Entrenador Mexicano
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short, Student
  • Runtime:
    14 minutes 59 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 9, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    22,000 MXN
  • Country of Origin:
    Mexico
  • Country of Filming:
    Mexico
  • Language:
    Spanish
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1:85:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Escuela Nacional de Artes Cinematográficas
Director Biography - Michel Puertas

Born and raised in Mexico City, he showed an interest in storytelling from a young age, winning several short story competitions while in high school, two of which were published by Editorial Parmenia. He has experience in public speaking, voice acting, and advertising, but his true love has always been filmmaking, and he has a focus on creating genre films.

Michel Puertas is a thesis student at the National Cinematographic Arts School in Mexico, specializing in "Directing Fiction", but he’s also experienced as a screenwriter, editor, and assistant director. He also studied filmmaking at the University of East Anglia, Norwich (UK), and has taken part in more than 20 film courses and workshops both in Mexico and the UK.

His most recent short films are “The Mexican Football Coaching Guide", a comedic docufiction about a young man who takes lessons from real football coaches to prepare him to manage his first match, and "Bolillo Mojado", a black and white adult comedy starring an axolotl puppet.

He is currently writing his most ambitious short film yet: a half-hour heist film, which will be his thesis at his film school. He's currently working on several video projects for the local TV channel Capital 21, where he’s doing social service.

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Director Statement

Football is excess: of passion, of adrenaline, of the absurd. And Mexican football, at all levels, breathes with the oxygen of the excesses of its coaches. Because when both talent and effort aren’t enough, the madness of the Mexican coach plays its part: with their unorthodox motivation techniques, their cheerful personality, and their effervescent character during matches. This atypical leadership is justified because their conviction is sincere. Therefore, this short film is an irreverent tribute to those characters that build the purest idiosyncrasy of Mexican football.

Whenever I played football I had coaches who were inherently funny (usually without intending to be). Even on terrible teams who would always lose, we would often laugh at the witticisms of our coaches. But they weren't trained to be like that, they're just people who are trying to do their best, and their personas come out naturally. That’s how I came up with the idea to create a parody of a didactic guide for this type of coach. I understood the comedic potential of this concept, so I gathered the best team to make it work: my friends (and some of my ex-coaches too).

But we needed one last piece of the puzzle, someone with an uncontainable frenzy inside of the manager’s technical area: "El Chelís", José Luis Sánchez Solá. His charisma, intensity, and unique style of coaching and commentating professional football made him the perfect subject to reinforce the unique nature of the Mexican coach. He provided an element that proves that the relationship between sports and comedy is unquestionable. We couldn’t have found someone better to teach Javi's character how to act like a real football coach during a match.

This is a film that I was able to make with my best friends and I am proud to say that we had an absolute blast making it, laughing out loud at every stage, from figuring out ideas to the very last day of post-production. Now we hope to share some of that laughter with the audience that watches "The Mexican Football Coaching Guide".