Sieger sein

Winners

Eleven-year-old Mona and the rest of her seven-member Kurdish family have fled Syria and ended up in Berlin. Or, more precisely, the neighbourhood of Wedding where Mona is sent to a notorious primary school attended by 90 percent "foreigners". Chaos reigns in the school. Most of the teachers are having a nervous breakdown and frustration levels amongst the pupils are growing by the day. Mona feels it, too. She can barely speak German, but she can speak football. In her hometown, she often played street football with her mates. She misses her home, her friends and especially her aunt Helin. She was Mona’s hero who always supported her passion for football. Everything is different in Germany. Then a dedicated teacher called Mr Che recognises Mona’s special talent and selects her for the girls’ team. But this well-intentioned gesture fails to make things any easier. Mona is quickly identified as an outsider and playing in a team with the other girls turns out to be more difficult than expected. Each of them is fighting their own battles but one thing soon becomes clear: they will only win if they all play together.

Source: 74. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Catalogue)