Life is not a competition, but I’m winning
DOCUMENTARY WITH FICTIONAL ELEMENTS – 79 MIN – 2023
Documentary films have a preference for showing their protagonists suffering. For us though, it was crucial to not provide any cinematic space for violence – as by restricting a film to the description of terrible injustices, it gives cinematic space ONLY to the forces that have caused the painful circumstances. By showing and repeating things, you always hold on to them at the same time. Instead, in our film, utopian moments of collective togetherness slowly weave themselves into the life of our protagonist. Suffering and pain merge into a vision of queer community that ends up being more powerful than the violence that was committed.
The crew of this project was made up of women and queer people only – not only for reasons of representation, but also because the incorporation of all participants’ experiences and the atmosphere during the shooting were essential for our project.
Synopsis
Nearly no other part of society is still so rigidly separated by gender as the world of sports. This not only affects the athletes, but also significantly shapes the gender perception of millions of spectators.
In a mixture of fiction, documentary and archival footage, this film whirls up the stereotypical gender categories in competitive sports.
We accompany Amanda Reiter, a trans marathon runner from the Bavarian province, and Annet Negesa, an 800-meter runner from Uganda. Both are confronted with the restrictive gender concepts of sports and are trying to free themselves out of them. The documentary layer of the film is interwoven with fictional moments, in which a group of athletes forms a queer-feminist collective envisioning a world beyond stereotypical gender categories. A colourful utopia in cinemascope.
Crew & Cast
directed by Julia Fuhr Mann cinematography Caroline Spreitzenbart sound design Cornelia Böhm gaffer Janne Ebel 1st AC Nadja Krüger on-set sound Rhys Anderson costume design Angela Queins set design Sonja Schreiber, Mireia Vila Soriano make-up artist Mai Strathmann editing Merit Giesen, Melanie Jilg vfx artists Isabelle Kramer, Fabian Peitzsch graphic design Anna Lind Haugaard dramaturgical advice Lena Hatebur, Susanne Bieger 3sat/ZDF Katya Mader producer Melissa Byrne production Sophie Ahrens, Fabian Altenried, Kristof Gerega
with Annet Negesa, Amanda Reiter, Caitlin Fisher, Daniel Marin Medina, Chun Mei Tan, Eva Maria Jost, Jakob Levi Stahlberg, Oumou Aidara, Greta Graf
funded by FFF Bayern winner of ARRI postproduction award winner of British Pathé Archive Award part of Locarno First Look part of Into the Wild Mentoring
© Schuldenberg Films / University of Television and Film Munich / ZDF / 2023
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79 MIN – 2023