In competition

Life Is Not a Competition, But I’m Winning

Directed by Julia Fuhr Mann
Germany 2023
Runtime 79'

If history is written by the victors, where does that leave those who were never allowed to be part of the game? A collective of queer athletes enters the Olympic Stadium in Athens and sets out to honour those who were excluded from standing on the winners’ podium. They meet Amanda Reiter, a trans* marathon runner who has to struggle with the prejudices of sports organisers, and Annet Negesa, a 800m runner who was urged by the international sports federations to undergo hormone-altering surgery. Together they create a radical poetic utopia far from the rigid gender rules found in competitive sports.

Directed by
Julia Fuhr Mann

Screenplay
Julia Fuhr Mann

Cinematography
Caroline Spreitzenbart

Editing
Melanie Jilg, Merit Giesen

Sound design
Cornelia Böhm

Production design
Sonja Schreiber, Mireia Vila Soriano

Costumes
Angela Queins

Cast
Annet Negesa, Amanda Reiter, Caitlin Fisher, Daniel Marin Medina, Chun Mei Tan, Eva Maria Jost, Jakob Levi Stahlberg, Oumou Aidara, Greta Graf

Production
Fabian Altenried, Sophie Ahrens, Kristof Gerega (Schuldenberg Films)

Co-production
Melissa Byrne (University of Television and Film Munich), Katya Mader (ZDF/3sat)

International sales
First Hand Films

38SIC

Julia Fuhr Mann (1987) studied Philosophy, Literature and Sociology, followed by Documentary Film Studies at the University of Television and Film Munich. Julia Fuhr Mann worked as a curator for the feminist film festival Bimovie, co-founded a queer-feminist film network and is part of the Queer Media Society. Julia Fuhr Mann’s short film Riot Not Diet has been screened at over 60 film festivals worldwide (including Hot Docs Documentary Film Festival) and has won several awards.