Victoire Terminus, Kinshasa

In the now run down stadium where in 1974 the legendary battle between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman had taken place, a group of young women boxers train for the African championship. At the same time, the stadium is the meeting point for youth and the venue for political gatherings in the run-up to the first democratic elections in the Republic of Congo. Sports competitions, political elections, and individual struggles for survival criss-cross in this film, vibrating with energy, pulsing with rhythm, and packed with atmosphere. The city is under great pressure, the election campaigns of Joseph Kabila and Jean-Pierre Bemba are in full swing, the tensions that go along with them are everywhere. The passionate boxers are the focal point of all of this, their sport, their living conditions, and the hope in boxing as the way to a better future. But boxing is also the expression of their fighting attitude towards everyday life under extreme conditions: They refuse the traditional roles ascribed to them by society, they insist on being treated with respect and on the right to defend themselves. Determined, selfaware, and without illusions.
Birgit Kohler