The Knockout Game

This short film by French SBCC student Benjamin Goalabre follows a group of friends who engage in a heinous game that goes violently wrong. He answered these questions from Paris in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, explaining, “Movies are a way to fight against those terrorists as well as were the cartoons of my friends who died in the attack.”

See facebook.com/theknockoutgame.

Does this game exist in real life?

Yes. I think it was two years ago when I first saw on the news in France and then Monique Rosario, my writer, came up to me with a short script talking about this subject. We worked on the script for couple of months before to film it. 

What compelled you to tell this story? 

What is interesting in the story is the process of how a young person can get to the point of doing such horror. Peer pressure and the need to be liked and loved pushes the main character to go into this terrible game. 

Did you do a lot of scouting to find these great setting?

We filmed everything in Santa Barbara County and we scouted a lot before to make sure we had the right location for the atmosphere I wanted to breathe out of the film. Santa Barbara has a great variety of locations for filmmakers. I love to film here. 

Where did you find the young actress?

Yes, she is great! She is actually the writer of the film, Monique Rosario. We’ve been working together for the past two years and we’re currently developing a feature film.