In the gritty mining town of Pernik, Bulgaria, a new documentary is shining a light on the dark underbelly of football fandom. “No Place for You in Our Town,” directed by Nikolay Stefanov, offers a disturbingly intimate look at the world of FC Minyor Pernik’s most hardcore supporters, revealing the toxic masculinity, economic despair, and generational hatred fueling their violent behavior.
Inside the “Stadium of Peace”
The film’s central setting is the ironically named “Stadium of Peace,” where Minyor Pernik’s black-and-yellow-clad fans gather each weekend to cheer on their team. But as Stefanov’s camera reveals, there is little peaceful about their support. Instead, the stands are a seething mass of aggressive energy, with men hurling racist, homophobic, and misogynistic abuse at opposing players and fans.
Staying close to his subjects, Stefanov captures the raw physicality of the hooligans’ behavior, from their threatening chants and gestures to the way they throw themselves against the stadium’s protective fences. The effect is both visceral and unsettling, immersing the viewer in a world where violence is always just a hairsbreadth away.
The Roots of Hatred
But “No Place for You in Our Town” is more than just a sensationalistic portrait of football violence. Through the story of Tsetso, a middle-aged hooligan struggling with pneumonia, Stefanov attempts to explore the deeper roots of this toxic masculine culture.
Like many of his fellow skinheads, Tsetso bears Nazi tattoos and spews hateful rhetoric. But in moments of reflection, he also reveals how his beliefs have been shaped by the abuse and racism he witnessed from his own father. The implication is that the hooligans’ behavior is not simply a product of individual failings, but part of a larger cycle of learned hatred and despair.
“This atmosphere of hatred is a generational one,” a source close to the film’s production told us. “It’s fueled by a lack of economic opportunity, a sense of being left behind by the wider world. For these men, the football club is one of the few sources of identity and belonging they have left.”
Gaps in Context
Yet while “No Place for You in Our Town” gestures at this broader context, it never fully develops these themes. Brief newsreel footage of Pernik’s mining heyday hints at the town’s declining fortunes, but the film largely eschews socioeconomic analysis in favor of an almost purely observational approach.
This decision lends the documentary a certain raw power, but it also leaves key questions unanswered. How representative are Tsetso and his cohort of Pernik as a whole? What role have broader political and cultural factors played in shaping their worldview? Without this context, it becomes more difficult to see the hooligans as anything other than individually depraved actors.
Walking the Line
There are also moments where Stefanov’s immersive style veers uncomfortably close to aestheticization. In one scene, the hooligans’ destructive antics are filmed in artful slow-motion, set to a pulse-pounding hard rock soundtrack. While undeniably striking, such stylistic choices risk glamorizing the very behavior the film purports to critique.
“Filming hate is always a tightrope walk,” our source acknowledged. “You want to capture the raw energy and emotion of it, but not in a way that valorizes or normalizes that hate. It’s a difficult balance to strike.”
It’s a balance that “No Place for You in Our Town” doesn’t always achieve. But despite its flaws, the film remains a disturbing and thought-provoking glimpse into a rarely seen world. By taking us inside the stadium and into the lives of the hooligans themselves, Stefanov forces us to confront the ugly realities of toxic masculinity and the way it can fester in communities starved of hope.
Whether that confrontation leads to greater understanding, or merely morbid fascination, will depend largely on the viewer. But in a moment where nationalism, xenophobia, and masculine aggression are on the rise across Europe and beyond, it’s a conversation we cannot afford to look away from.
“No Place for You in Our Town” premieres on True Story on November 15th. Viewer discretion is strongly advised.
