I spoke with the 41-year old Chris Cashman on the phone earlier this month to talk about his latest film Club Frontera. The 90-minute film takes a look at how the Tijuana soccer club — the Xolos — has changed the culture of the city.

The team went from a start in Division 2 to Mexican Premier League champions in a short period, and its success has given the community something to believe in after a four-year bloody Mexican Drug War that claimed some 47,000 people. The documentary took three years to produce, and Cashman collected 150 hours of footage and interviews to tell the world what it means to the people of Tijuana to have this club represent them.

Can you recall the exact moment, the point where you said to yourself: “I have to document this story?”

I was actually hired by a local immigration attorney here in San Diego. He’d seen some of my other films. And all he pretty much said was, “hey I’d like you to make a movie on the Xolos.” And I was like, “what are you talking about? Like gangsters? And why me?” And he said “no, it’s a soccer team.” I knew nothing about it. So this project kind of fell in my lap.

Right. How did you start tackling this story, a team you knew nothing about?

I started researching areas south of San Diego, south of the 8 freeway, where it’s considered the South Bay. Percentage wise that’s where most Latinos live. It’s closer to the border, low income housing. I lived down there for four or five years and the only thing I knew about the soccer team was when you’d be in traffic and you’d see this sign CLUB TIJUANA and you know, it had this picture of a dog in the middle of it. I was like “oh this must be the new nightclub.” I literally thought it was a night club in Tijuana.

That actually makes sense. I’d probably think the same thing now that you mention it. Have you ever been to Tijuana before shooting the film?

I’ve always loved Tijuana. Obviously I kind of avoided it during the rough patch in the late 2000s. I was living in L.A. at the time so it wasn’t a place I was looking to go to. I’ve always surfed in Mexico and never had any problems. Whenever I hear people getting into trouble in Mexico it’s usually because they do stupid shit. That mentality of going to Tijuana is like Vegas. People for whatever reason they feel like they can do whatever the fuck they want without any ramifications. And if anything, in Tijuana, you should probably think even more so than Los Angeles because you’re in another country. And obviously they play by different rules down there.

Ok. Initially, what story did you set out to tell?

I was lead into this project and they kind of laid it out for me, but the more research I did on it, the more I could see the story. Ultimately the idea of this team from out of nowhere makes first division and then in 18 months they win the championship. We really did struggle at first to even get answers from their media department at first. No one was getting back to me. At first I was like, ok, don’t know much but we’ll just go down there and figure it out.

Did the narrative change at all while you were down there?

When we got down there the story was, trying to find how maybe someone was affected by the violence and maybe how the team had changed their lives. But I never found it. Then I realized, it’s a big city, like two million people that live there. I think a lot of people misinterpret the city as some small border town like it’s the Wild Wild West down there. Like fricken chaos. It’s not. Granted it’s like any big city in the world there are parts you just don’t go to. So we started focusing on what the team had to do to overcome the challenges of being a brand new team in the city, a city that already has a melting pot of fans. Tijuana is a place where people already have their ties to other football teams thousands of miles away. But ultimately the Xolos had to create this brand where multiple generations now live.

“It was a fucking scary time. There was a lot of shit going down. In 2007–08, people were very scared. Going out at night they had curfews. They (Club Tijuana) started a business in Tijuana’s scariest hour. It was the best distraction or opportunity to really do something you’re not freaked out about.” — Chris Cashman

The film shows change in various parts of life in Tijuana. Like how the cheer squad has grown from eight to hundreds of people that stop traffic. It shows how the team moved from a relatively basic soccer arena to a multi-million dollar stadium. It seems like a large investment in sport. How much does sport mean to the people of Tijuana?

For years Tijuana was more of a baseball and boxing town. Soccer is something that is fairly rooted in the south, in Mexico City, but not Baja. Baseball is huge in Tijuana being so close to the States. Soccer in the Latin community, it’s a generational thing. Especially when you talk about roots, people pride themselves on the teams they root for in the south. But they weren’t born there. They were born in Tijuana. It’s almost like religion. You are born into whatever you are born into. Whatever they believe in, your father, grandfather, it’s like it’s passed onto you. Especially among the young Tijuanans, there’s even more pride they’re just happy to root for something collectively. They’re not having to root for something that would more just kind of like in the genes. And you see it everywhere.

You mention the Xolos were this movement of positive change. Can you explain that?

The team has finally given the city something to be proud about because the team is from Tijuana. They wear the jersey with pride because they have a winning team. Not only did they do well at the Mexican level, they beat a bunch of Brazillian teams. Now they are getting national recognition. A big sign the team was effecting the city, was for years when you’d wait in the line to get back into the States there would be these vendors that would come up to you trying to sell you stuff like Puma shirts that read Chivas America. Now you see all the guys they all have Xolos jerseys. It’s in the markets, everywhere. All over the place, murals, billboards. It is part of their culture now. I think Tijuana is becoming more of a soccer town now that they actually have a high level team. They’re playing with the big boys. There is definitely a change in the culture for sure.

When the Xolos first started out, who were they targeting to become fans: millennials, the older generation, vendors?

Their marketing plan was to go after everybody. But at the same time it seems like their target was more of a younger crowd. You could see it in their cheer squad: 15 to 30 year-olds. Ultimately you look at the team itself was created by young individuals. The President was 23 when his father gave him the team. He of course hired his buddies and family friends. So you have this group of guys in their early to late 20s and early 30s running this professional team. Granted father is a multi-billionaire, one of Mexico’s wealthiest men who runs all the casinos. But they knew what the youth wanted.

How did the popularity grow seeing as people are religious about what soccer teams they choose to support?

They used smart social media techniques. The old teams from south are not as good on social. They had U.S. eyes. Being close to the border they knew there would be interest from the U.S. They created- which has never been done in Mexico soccer before — a Spanish website and completely separate one in English. They also created a vibe of recruiting Mexican-American players. Bringing in guys that are on the U.S. national team. It’s an interesting fan base they’ve tapped into, it’s the Mexican-Americans who don’t speak Spanish but were born in Mexico and live in the United States.

Are Americans part of the fan base?

They make up 30 percent of season ticket holders and $7 million per game is brought into the city of Tijuana, every Friday night. People are making it an event: staying for the weekend, eating out, hitting the casinos, bars, clubs, buying merchandise, jerseys. Baja Tourism was blown away they even conducted a study on the Xolos and were surprised how much money was coming into the city.

What is a Xolos game like? I’m picturing flares, a noisey and smokey atmosphere.

There are young and old at the games. Young professionals with families.It’s a big family draw. At first, it was a wild scene, throwing beers and all that. Then security came in cleaned it up and said “ you can’t do that.” It’s one of the more highly priced tickets in the Mexican League but It’s still cheaper than going to a game in the United States, to a Major League Soccer game. You can get a 24 ounce beer for $4 in Tijuana; it’s triple that in the U.S. In terms of the stadium, they’re building it as the fan base grows. There used to be a six-foot drop in the stands with some caution tape around it. Now the car park is paved and the stands are completed.

The film follows several players and fans of Club Tijuana. What did you learn from those experiences?

In the film there’s a character by the name of Alexandro Vido, a young player we followed from the U-20 Xolos squad in First Division. He was born in the U.S. and grew up in Tijuana. He struggled as a young athlete trying to get into the first squad. Here’s this pro athlete living at home with his parents. It was fascinating seeing a guy that young dealing with the pressures of being an elite athlete. One of the other guys we follow in the film is a graffiti artist Mode. He’s an extreme fan. We filmed his struggles as being an artist but it also showed this resurgence of this new Tijuana, the growth of the city. He was commissioned by the government to do this mural inside the Tijuana Canal which sits right on the border where all the expats live, lots of heroin addicts, heavy heavy drugs.

Was it dangerous down there when you were filming?

The first few times we went down there I had to go with police with assault rifles. The more and more we went down the more we become comfortable with the area. It was also during the time they were cleaning up Tijuana. The city were sending people down there to help the drug addicts find jobs. It’s almost like the canal of lost souls. So, we able to follow this artistic movement that tied into the team as well. The last mural in the canal is the championship of when the team won and it shows all the players holding up the trophy. It shows that sports makes people happy. Even people down there trying to clean your car window for buck to get high they’re wearing a Xolos hat. They’re asking about the game. They’re fans too.

How important was this story to tell?

People have painted such a horrible picture of this city. I was more focused on showing the public the positivity and the culture in a good light. It’s a great city. I really wanted to make film that explains what exactly happened, why the violence existed in 2008, what was going on and how it’s not the Wild West. The team has finally given the people something to root and bring the community together. And that was my observation. I tried to find stories and link the violence to the people — I never found it.

Is this a film for the sports fan or more of a human interest piece?

It is a sports film, but I made a sports film that anyone can watch. Sports enthusiasts will love it because you see the human angle of being a player and the pressure and being the extreme fan. On the flip side I also wanted to make a film for people who wanted to see a good doc, the culture and humanity and what’s going on in Tijuana. I didn’t want to make a movie about stats or any of that. The best documentaries I’ve seen are about interesting people.