The lebanese siblings Hassan, Lial and Maradona are successful dancers and musicians living in Berlin’s notorious district Neukölln. But the three have a problem: their family is in danger of being deported out of Germany. Determinded to keep the family united, they plan to use their artistic talents to earn enough money and secure the family’s future.

But the pressure has its toll on the siblings. Between Lial and Hassan a rivalry arises about who of the two is the family’s bread-earner. In the meantime Maradona is getting himself into trouble and gets kicked out of school. Torn between the ambitious life-style of his elder siblings and the street-life of his friends he finds himself at the crossroad between motivation and resignation. A little hope arises when Maradona surprisinlgy is accepted in a tv-casting show. Should he win the 100.000€ cash-prize, it could be him who will secure the family’s future in Germany.

Key cast:
Hassan Akkouch, Lial Akkouch, Maradona Akkouch

Directors:
Agostino Imondi & Dietmar Ratsch

Writer:
Agostino Imondi

Director of Photography:
Dietmar Ratsch

Editor:
Agostino Imondi, Lars Späth

Dramaturgy:
Raimund Barthelmes

Sound:
Agostino Imondi

Score:
Eike Hosenfeld, Moritz Denis, Tim Stanzel (Tonbüro Berlin)

Sound design:
Antonio Paule Harzer (BASISberlin)

Sound mixing:
Florian Beck (BASISberlin)

Media design:
Björn Müller

Animation:
Benjamin Kniebe, Julia Dufek

Production Manager:
Rainer Baumert (RBB)

Executive Producer:
Arek Gielnik

Commissioning Editor:
Dagmar Mielke (RBB/ARTE), Birgit Mehler (RBB)

Co-Producer:
Nico Hain, Boris Michalski, Prof. Didi Danquart

Creative Producer:
Sonia Otto

Producer:
Arek Gielnik, Dietmar Ratsch

An INDI FILM Production in co-production with Noirfilm and RBB
In collaboration with Arte

Funded by German Federal Film Board, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg,
German Federal Film Fund, MEDIA – a programme of the European Union,
MFG Film Funding Baden-Württemberg

AWARDS:

60th Berlin International Film Festival
Berlin, Germany (11.–21. February. 2010)
CHRYSTAL BEAR

Buster Copenhagen
Copenhagen, Denmark (9.-19. September 2010)
BEST DOCUMENTARY

27th Chicago International Children’s Film Festival
Chicago, USA (21.-31. October 2010)
ADULT JURY PRIZE – BEST DOCUMENTARY

Movies that Matter Festival The Hague 2011
MOVIE SQUAD ALL RIGHTS AWARD

FESTIVALS:

12th Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente
Buenos Aires, Argentinia (7.–18. April 2010)
Section „Personas y Personajes (People and Characters)“

23rd Singapore International Film Festival
Singapur (15.–25. April 2010)
Section „In Focus & German Film Focus“

12th Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival
Taipei, Taiwan (25. June – 15. July 2010)
Section “Next Generation”

11th Seoul International Youth Film Festival
Seoul, South Korea (8. July – 14. June 2010)
Section “It’s okay to be different”

16th Sarajevo Film Festival
Sarajevo, Bosnien-Herzegowina (23.–31. July 2010)
Section “Teen Arena”

18th Brisbane International Film Festival – Cine Sparks
Brisbane, Australia (28. July – 6. August 2010)

30th Cambridge Film Festival
Cambridge, UK (16.–26. September 2010)

KinOdiseea
Bucharest, Romania (26. September – 3. October 2010)

10th Beirut International Film Festival
Beirut, Libanon (6.–13. October 2010)
Section “Panorama”

DER FILM
Prague, Czech (7. October 2010)

Discovery Film Festival
Dundee, UK (16.–31. October 2010)
Section “Education”

34th São Paulo International Film Festival
Sao Paulo, Brasil (22. October – 4. November 2010)
Section “New Filmmaker’s Competition”

12th International Documentary Encounters of Colombia
Bogota, Colombia (25.–31. October 2010)
Section “International”

6th Tel Aviv International Children’s Film Festival
Tel Aviv, Israel (27.–30. October 2010)

34. Duisburg Film Week
Duisburg, Germany (1.-7. November 2010)
Section „doxs!“

13rd RIDM Rencontres Internationales du Documentaires de Montréal
Montreal, Canada (10.–21. November 2010)

Tallin Black Nights Film Festival
Tallin, Estonia (19.–28. November 2010)
Section “Just Film”

2. German-Chinese DocFilmForum
Shanghai, China (19. November – 5. December 2010)

21. Cinema Fest Lünen
Lünen, Germany (11.-14. November 2010)

Glasgow Youth Film Festival
Glasgow, UK (17.-27. February 2011)

7. Crossing Europe Film Festival
Linz, Austria (12.–17. April 2011)

Youthfilmfestival Flanders
Antwerp/Bruges, Belgium (5.-13. March 2011)