Spieler

In the organizer's words:

Free admission.

Content:

Rustem is a gambler, his job and his passion is poker. Two hours are enough for the 25-year-old to complete up to 300 tournaments online. A decision is made every second and with every click: 60 risks per minute. The game has little to do with luck, he says. What counts is self-confidence, a talent for numbers and discipline.
In the darkened living room, the camera follows Russem's unconventionally isolated craft. Only the glow of the laptop defies the black - like a symbol of the supposed anonymity of the internet. Between momentary glamor and cliché, quickly earned sums of money, microwave burgers and after-work long drinks, Rustem's longing for publicity, the fame of a Pius Heinz, for direct confrontation is also articulated. The camera's gaze increasingly penetrates the real poker world with the protagonist - into smoky back rooms and artificially decorated (provincial) casinos. There he wanders over gigantic table ensembles, observes the ballet of cards and the movements involved in exchanging chips and fortunes.

Background:

Katharina Copony articulates a cinematic translation for the idiosyncratic routine and forced lack of emotion in the virtual and real poker halls - for a game that continues into everyday life and does not end with the respective tournament. At the same time, Spieler is neither a sensationalist portrait of a winner nor a canonized critique of gambling. The poetic offer narrative conveys the story of a life in a community in which everyone acts for themselves. Towards the end of the film, the camera zooms back into the computer worlds of "Mafia 2". Here, as there, the law of the jungle reigns supreme, virtual reality and reality become blurred. Alone against all, always in the game.

Funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of NRW and the Interkultur Ruhr 2025 development fund.