Spielerinnen follows Arzu, Türkan, Nalan, and Nazan. Years ago, they played soccer together at the Ağrı Spor club in Kreuzberg, Berlin – the first Turkish women’s soccer club in Germany. What happened to them since Aysun Bademsoy’s first two films about the soccer players, called Mädchen am Ball (1995) and Nach dem Spiel (1997)? How are they doing nowadays, what are they up to, what do their relationships to each other look like? Have they fulfilled their desires, what do they think about their daughters, and what do their daughters think about social media, boys, family, work, religion, and belonging?

Having made over 15 documentaries in 30 years, Aysun Bademsoy focuses on the mundane in her latest film; she continues to observe, listen, accompany, question – and takes us as the viewers along for the ride. She has created an intergenerational portrait of the second and third generation of Turkish-German women in Berlin. This includes the potential for change in how they look at family in German society, the expectations, values, patriarchal system, prejudices, and everyday racism they have to confront and deal with – and soccer, the passion of their youth. In real life, they could be our neighbours; in the film, we are invited to ride alongside them, sit in their living rooms, and participate in a life which equally values the women, challenges them, and asks them to become visible. Spielerinnen is a slogans-free film opening the door to discussions on migration with care and without buzzwords. We urgently need more of this now.

Aysun Bademsoy is a guest at LICHTER Filmfest. At 2:00 PM, she will participate in the panel "Von uns aus von hier aus" (2:00 PM).

After the screening of Spielerinnen, there will be a film discussion with Marie-Hélène Gutberlet.