From the soccer club, to the stage in the theater, to behind the camera.
Hamburg director Justina Jürgensen talks about her impressive career as a director in a SOONER interview.
From the soccer club, to the stage in the theater, to behind the camera. In a SOONER interview, Hamburg director Justina Jürgensen talks about her impressive career as a director and about sexism and heteronormativity - and not just in soccer.
In 2006, during the World Cup, the young Justina was gripped by soccer fever. There was no girls' team, so she played with the boys at the club. As a young adult, she admitted to herself that things weren't looking particularly rosy for women in professional soccer - and so she focused on her other great passion: acting and theater. As an assistant director in the theater, she was gripped by the desire to tell the stories herself one day.
The dream became reality: in 2017, she began her studies at the University of Television and Film Munich and is working on her own films as a director and writer. Her film WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON BETWEEN US, FUCK?, which is also available on SOONER, is set in the world of women's soccer and is about a lesbian love affair in the team. Again, it was the World Cup that inspired her, so she is currently developing a series about the world of women's football. This time, however, she takes a harder line with the sport: she believes that sexist structures should be burned at the stake.
Unfortunately, these exist not only in sport, but also in the film industry. The Into The Wild mentoring program is working to combat this. By providing targeted support for young female talent in the industry, like Justina, the aim is to ensure greater diversity and fairness in the industry. Justina is grateful for the mentoring program, as it encourages people to support each other and form bonds instead of elbowing their way through. Because like soccer, film is a team sport!
Justina is a political person. One of her favorite films is the DEFA film DIE MÖRDER SIND UNTER UNS - a post-war film in which the filmmakers understood and reflected on the atrocities that took place shortly after the end of the Second World War and dealt with the question of German war guilt in shattered Berlin. She is concerned about the shift to the right and sees a responsibility among artists to take a stand against it.
The entire interview is now available for you, as well as Justina's curated film recommendations. Listen in now!
