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Battle of the Sexes - The End of Patriarchy

GER 2023

The 42-year-old actress Marga has passed the zenith of her career and, due to advancing age and as a woman, collides with the limits of patriarchal society. A radically humorous critique of the conditions - and their transgression.

Synopsis

Marga, played by Margarita Breitkreiz, a forty-two year old actress apparently has passed the zenith of her career. Once acting for the most prestigious stages in Germany (Volksbühne Berlin, Berliner Ensemble, Maxim-Gorki-Theater) it turns out difficult for her to get proper engagements. Not only in theatre, but also in film industry, it seems to become more challenging to get parts with advancing age, especially as a woman, moreover as a woman of migrant origin. If she gets an offer for a part, it’s mostly for those serving her Russian origin as a cliché. As a result, she increasingly has to deal with the employment agency's job agents, as well as retraining and other job offers while she starts realizing that the theatre and film business is ruled by inequity and discrimination. Yet even in society, which seems to be strongly influenced by patriarchal structures, she constantly collides with her own limits, or those of the woman in society. Until she decides to break out of the victim role and fight back.

Along the biography of its main actress „BATTLE OF THE SEXES - The End of Patriarchy“  tries to spotlight the issue of gender within the realm of the art, culture and film industry, not offering a clear view or answer but a thesis-like ever shifting arrangement of possible views by quoting differing feminist positions and integrating dialogues with experts of gender studies, cultural studies and feminists.

Aktuell

GESCHLECHTERKAMPF will be screened on Sat, 13.04. (19:00) and Sun, 14.04. (14:30) in the Humor / Satire Competition at Filmfest Bremen — at Cinema im Ostertor, in the presence of Margarita Breitkreiz, Sobo Swobodnik and Michaela Dudley!

The cinema tour with Margarita Breitkreiz, Sobo Swobodnik and Michaela Dudley continues in 2024! All dates here and in the cinema calendar.
Berlin: Lichtblick—Kino 20.03., 20:00 — guests: director Sobo Swobodnik, leading actress Margarita Breitkreiz & protagonist Michaela Dudley
Berlin: Frauenmärz (Kino Xenon) 27.03., 20:00 — guests: director Sobo Swobodnik & author, activist, cabaret artist Michaela Dudley
Köln: FORUM (VHS im Museum am Neumarkt) in fall, date to follow — guest: feminist black activist & performer Michaela Dudley

The film was shown in the following theaters:
Berlin: Freiluftkino Kreuzberg (Premiere am 2.8.) / Berlin: Bundesplatz—Kino / Berlin: City Kino Wedding / Berlin: IL Kino / Berlin: Klick Kino / Berlin: Lichtblick—Kino / Berlin: Rosengarten / Berlin: Sputnik Kino am Südstern / Berlin: Tilsiter Lichtspiele / Berlin: Wolf Kino / Berlin: Zukunft am Ostkreuz / Dortmund: sweetSixteen Kino / Dresden: Frauenbildungszentrum / Erfurt: Schambrowski / Frankfurt a.M.: Harmonie Arthouse Kino / Gießen: Kinopolis / Hamburg: B-Movie / Köln: Filmhaus Kino / Leipzig: Kinobar Prager Frühling / Leipzig: Luru Kino in der Spinnerei / München: Werkstattkino / Münster: Cinema & Kurbelkiste / Neustrelitz: Fabrik Kino 1 / Parchim: Kino Movie Star / Regensburg: Ostentorkino

Film kaufen

Screening Format
DCP (Color, 5.1)
Aspect Ratio
16:9
Language
German
Subtitles
English
Promotion Material
A1 Poster, Trailer
License Area
Worldwide
Rating
/

Press reviews

Marga doesn‘t give up: she still has so much energy and so much anger. She has conversations with herself all across Berlin like someone who is gradually losing her mind. But Marga doesn‘t want therapy, she wants a revolution. In the name of all women she becomes a powerful hellcat, wreaking wonderful havoc in the patriarchal structures. Abolishing the patriarchy and capitalism – GESCHLECHTERKAMPF demands nothing less. With Brechtian acting, an associative narrative style, and gaudy colors, the film provides food for thought about patriarchal society and how to take action within it. – Eva Szulkowski, indiekino

Awards and Festivals

- Filmfest Bremen - Humor / Satire Competition, 2024

Additional Texts

In the cinemas

Watch Movie

In the cinemas

Credits

Directed by
Sobo Swobodnik
Written by
Margarita Breitkreiz, Sobo Swobodnik
With
Margarita Breitkreiz, Daniel Zillmann, Artemis Chalkidou, Isabel Thierauch, Lars Rudolph, Alexander Scheer, Kathrin Angerer, Inga Busch, Almut Zilcher, Martin Wuttke, Abdoul Kader Traoré, Oliver Nitsche, Lotte Ohm, Anna Görgen, Elisabeth De Maeyer, Sascha Hilpert, Hendrik Arnst, Taner Sahintürk, Rosa Lembeck, Reyhan Şahin aka Lady Bitch Ray, Michaela Dudley, Teresa Bücker
Director of Photography
Sobo Swobodnik
1st Camera Assistant
Ferdinand Klotzky
Editor
Manuel Stettner, Julia Milz
Scenography, Costume Design
Anne Laubner
Make-up Artists
Anne Laubner, Julia Böhm
Sound Operator
Anna Magdalino, Richard Meyer, Weronika Malinowska
Sound Mix
Alexander Heinze, Nele Schinz
Music, Sound Design
Maike Rosa Vogel
1st Assistant Director
Constanze Schüddekopf
Set Manager
Constanze Schüddekopf, Lisa-Marie Lutz
Producer
Frieder Schlaich
Produced by
Filmgalerie 451
Founded by
Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (BKM)

Premiere (D):
02.02.2023
Kinostart (D):
03.02.2023

Distribution Details

Screening Format
DCP (Farbe, 5.1)
Blu-ray Disc
Aspect Ratio
16:9
Language
German
Subtitles
English
Promotion Material
A1 poster, Trailer
License Area
Worldwide
Rating
From 12 years