WAGs is the graduation film of Evi Goldbrunner (Screenwriting/Dramaturgy), Joachim Dollhopf (Directing), Marco Armborst (Cinematography) and René Beine (Production) and a Co-Production of the UNIVERSITY OF FILM & TELEVISION „KONRAD WOLF“ together with the RBB Berlin-Brandenburg.
Evi Goldbrunner studied pursuing teaching certification at the University in Munich and worked as freelancer journalist. 2002-2009 scriptwriting and dramaturgy studies at the filmschool „HFF Konrad Wolf“ along with several projects as (co-)director. Her debut screenplay is part of the „First Movie Program“.
Joachim Dollhopf studied German, History and Sociology at the Munich University as well as directing at the filmschool in Potsdam, in the fields of fiction and documentary. Projects as director, co-writer, editor, cinematographer and actor. 2004 staging of a free theatre adaption of Robert Musil’s Tonka for the Maxim Gorki Theatre in Berlin. 2007 „Cinema for Peace Talent Award“ together with Evi Goldbrunner.
Their last short I DON‘T FEEL LIKE DANCING (2008) was screened at about 120 festivals, won a dozen prizes and was selected for the German short film reel „Next Generation 2009“ which premiered in Cannes.
Since 2010 Evi and Joachim are developing an integral new creative software for story development. Due to its innovative concept the project is funded by the EXIST program and was awarded as one of the three most promising start-ups in Brandenburg in 2011.
...awarded with the FIRST STEPS AWARD:
BEST GRADUATION FILM of Germany, Austria & Switzerland (up to 60 min.)
...MAIN AWARD for BEST MOVIE at the 4th Int. Film Festival of L‘Aquila 2010
...MAIN AWARD at the 5th Young Cinema Art Film Festival 2010
...BEST PERFORMANCE AWARD for Vesela Kazakova at the Young Cinema Art Film Festival
...‘SHORT FILM OF THE MONTH‘, Feb. 2011, FBW – German Institute of Film Rating
...SECOND PRIZE at the 7th Mise-en-Scene Int. Film Festival 2011
...BEST SOUND AWARD at the Mise-en-Scene Int. Film Festival 2011
...nominated for the PRODUCER'S AWARD 2010 at the 39th Sehsüchte Int. Film Festival 2010
...selected for the 60th BERLIN INT. FILM FESTIVAL 2010, PERSPEKTIVE DEUTSCHES KINO
WAGs – 2009, colour, 25 fps, 1.89:1, Dolby Digital 5.1
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NEXT SCREENINGS
...at the 8th RWANDA FILM FESTIVAL 2012, July 14th – 27th
...at the Filmpodium Gstaad 2012, Switzerland, May 21th
SONJA GERHARDT played her first leading role in the German TV serial Schmetterlinge im Bauch (2006/07). After that she played main parts in the popular cinema productions Sommer (2007) and The Wild Chicks and Life (2008) as well as in several major television productions. She was nominated for the „Undine Award 2008“ and was granted a special mention at the „New Faces Awards 2009“ for The Wild Chicks.
Dina and Judith are the two new "WAGs" of the Berlin football club, i.e. they are the wife resp. girlfriend of two football professionals. On Saturdays they watch their men play football, but apart from that, they’ve nothing to do. While Dina lost herself in her abundance and weariness during her long years she is living this „WAG“-life, spring chicken Judith finds her new life alongside an up-and-coming footballer quite exciting. As Dina meets her young „colleague“ she sees herself in the naïve girl. She decides to rescue Judith – and finally rescues herself.
VESELA KAZAKOVA was the first Bulgarian shooting star at the Berlinale 2006. At the Moscow Film Festival 2005 she was granted the Best Actress Award for the film Stolen Eyes. She also played leading roles in Mila from Mars (2005), the most successful Bulgarian picture since the last ten years, and lately in the Hungarian cinema production Prima Primavera (2009). Before WAGs she already played the leading female part in our last short I DON‘T FEEL LIKE DANCING.
With WAGs we wanted to break the expectations of the audience: The lives of football players’ wives and girlfriends is a derision of emancipation. We found it interesting to have this group of women that is so strongly afflicted and prejudiced with negative clichés of being simply stylish, stupid and dependent on their men as the basis for our story. And then to show something else, going beyong this expectation by telling an exciting and gentle approach between a young naïve player’s girlfriend and a long-serving WAG within this men’s world of football.
In our film we show a short encounter that will influence the further lives of Dina and Judith, an encounter both women will perhaps remember their entire lives because it somehow constitutes a salvation for them. So WAGs was never supposed to become a „football movie“ or to be aimed at ridiculing footballers‘ wives and girlfriends once more. Rather, we wanted to add a women‘s perspective on a male bastion.
The soundtrack to WAGs comes from singer/songwriter Nicolas de Leval Jezierski, who wrote the songs together with Nicolas Mendler. It was produced and recorded by Johannes Heidingsfelder, who adapted and edited the songs especially for the film.
