Was lebst du?

I spent more than two years documenting the lives of Ali, Kais, Ertan and Alban on camera. During this time, their world was full of disappointments and conflict, but it also yielded incredible successes. It all began with a visit to the Youth Centre “Klingelputz” – a well-known meeting place for young migrants in the heart of Cologne. From our very first meeting I was impressed by the boys’ directness and their amazing presence. I was also fascinated by the way their behaviour seemed to be informed by their contradictory nature as well as their cliché-ridden machismo perceptions. And yet, even if the tone is often rough and direct, loyalty and mutual respect are always present in their treatment of each other. These four friends are from Moroccan, Tunisian, Turkish and Albanian families. In order to portray their lives and their thoughts it was also necessary for me to scrutinise my own attitudes. In fact, the deeper I became submerged in the world of these young men, the more my perspective on the world came under the influence of their own worldview. They too began to take an increasing interest in my life, and so, when I fell pregnant, the bond of trust that existed both in front of and behind the camera seemed to grow with my pregnancy and continued into my early motherhood.
This film is a journey into an unknown aspect of everyday life in Germany, portraying a group of young men on the cusp between the children they were and the adults they are about to become.
Bettina Braun