9 Lives

The film portrays the fates of several youths who decided at an early age – some as young as eleven, twelve or thirteen years old – to leave home, only to end up living on the streets temporarily or permanently. Sunny, Toni, Krümel ("Crumb"), JJ, Stöpsel ("Plug"), Soja and Za are all physically and emotionally hurt, and could have already lived nine lives. Despite all this destruction, they are endowed with remarkable strength and talent, which forms the focus of the film. Rather than documenting their lives on the street, the film concentrates on how their personalities materialize as they discuss their lives in front of a neutral backdrop in a studio. In this manner, cinematic portraits come to light like in an exhibition or art space. Prejudices and clichés about "bums" and "punks" vanish as the remarkable uniqueness of the youths comes to the forefront. They become stars – rightly so. (Viennale)