Silencing the Doubters: A conversation with “The Pitch” director Michèle Hozer

DANY CARBONELL/GATG

On October 22, the York Theatre hosted the screening of the documentary, The Pitch by the Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Michèle Hozer. The film follows Olympic medalist Diana Matheson’s journey on the creation of the Northern Super League (NSL). Members of the Vancouver Rise FC attended, as well as part-owner and Olympic medallist Christine Sinclair. 

Hozer was introduced to the film via Nathalie Cook, her friend from high school and former TSN/RDS vice president. Hozer was introduced to Matheson after a consulting meeting with Cook. 

As their work journey began, Hozer had the wrong idea on the reality of women’s soccer in Canada. “I thought, yeah, there’s gonna be tons of money involved in this, right?” Hozer thought to herself, but the answer was quite the opposite.

Diana Matheson, former Canada soccer player, took it upon herself to build a Canadian pro-women soccer league. She believed in her current and former teammates, she believed in Canada as supporters of women in sports. This was the fuel to her long and arduous journey to create the NSL. Hozer made an excellent job in showcasing the struggles, the triumphs, and the light at the end of the tunnel.

The themes of motherhood, fighting for spaces, and not being listened while being a woman, were all touched upon in the documentary. “There's a lot of naysayers in every industry, and in film, like in sports, it's very hard to make it,” Hozer replied when asked if she had found any similarities in Matheson’s journey compared to her own.

Both these women have gone through one too many obstacles in their respective field. This film manages to encapsulate the frustration women everywhere across different times have experienced. From not being believed in, being told no when coming up with innovative ideas, women have had a complicated journey to achieve being heard across different fields.

At the end, this film is a celebration of Matheson’s fight for Canadians to root for women succeeding on the soccer pitch. “You don't have to be an athlete to understand the plight of women,” Hozer remarked. 

By watching this The Pitch, people are invited to join the conversation of allowing women to dream and continue achieving their goals, no matter how crazy they might seem. 

“I won't be ever on the soccer pitch, but we'll be cheering on the sidelines.”