Presented in collaboration with the German Film Office

Sieger sein
Dir. Soleen Yusef
Germany, 2024
119 minutes
With Dileyla Agirman, Andreas Döhler, Tamira Bwibo, Sherine Ciara Merai, Yumin Hannah Cho, Anisa Perk, Artemis Kostopoulou
Original with English subtitles

KidsKino, the film series for our young viewers and movie fans: Once a month, Saturdays at 4:00 pm at the Goethe-Institut. Films are always shown in the original version (mainly German) with subtitles (English or French).

Recommended for viewers 10 and up

The first day at a new school can be tough for any kid, but for 11-year-old Mona it’s downright chaotic. She and her Kurdish family have fled their home in Syria and ended up in Germany in search of a better life, but Mona is having a hard time fitting in. She’s still learning German and misses her hometown and playing soccer with her friends. Chaos is the order of the day at her new school, where most of the teachers are worn to a frazzle and the students are just as frustrated with their teachers. When Mr. Che, the coach of the girls’ soccer team, sees Mona’s soccer skills, he puts her on the team. Although they are training for an upcoming tournament for all of Berlin’s schools, the team is anything but harmonious. Mona is singled out and blamed for the team’s troubles. With the tournament quickly approaching, they realize that if they want to win, they must stop fighting, treat each other as equals, and learn the true meaning of teamwork.

Winner of the 2024 German Film Award for Best Children’s Film, Soleen Yusef’s second feature is an inspirational, fast-paced coming-of-age film with a fresh, young perspective on the importance of family, friendship, and belonging.

Soleen Yusef was born in Duhok in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in 1987. At the age of nine she and her family fled to Berlin due to the political tensions in her home country. Originally trained as a singer and an actress, in 2008 she began studying fiction directing at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. Her third-year film Trattoria premiered at the 2012 Berlinale. Since making her debut feature film Haus ohne Dach (2016), for which she won awards including the First Steps Award, she has been working on international productions for Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+.