Zeitz as another “main actress”
Taking the conflict as a bracket, “They call us foreigners team” is very close to the characters, both visually and in terms of content. It reports on life on and off the football field in a former lignite town that became an AfD stronghold. A complex picture emerges from the many personal stories of the individual team members: You learn about the conditions in the home for asylum seekers, about how difficult it is to be far away from your own family and to feel at home in Zeitz despite constant hostilities.
A realistic picture of the East German province is drawn, which in Zeitz is characterized by dead inner cities, youth emigration and a lack of prospects. In this mixed situation, it is football that creates a sense of community for those who have been from Zeitz for many years, as well as for those who moved there a few years ago.
Protagonists tell their own stories
The series tells the story in calm images, with impressive drone shots and without any narration – only the protagonists have their say. Well thought out, as filmmaker Vera Weber reports in an interview with MDR KULTUR. She wanted people to tell their own stories and also how they perceive these conflicts.
But not only personal stories are told: through high-quality, calm images, the city of Zeitz itself becomes the protagonist. According to the filmmaker Weber, an empathetic view was taken to convey a feeling of what it means to live in this city.
What does home mean?
“They call us foreigners team” tells a big story in a small way. The search for home, for a place where one belongs, is reported. It is just as much a search by those who have migrated as by those who have stayed.
Four episodes are rooted in excitement: with an amateur club from the district league, which passionately fights to equalize when they are behind, with the committed Zeitzer people who don’t give up their club and work for the refugees, and with the Neu-Zeitzer people who are between homesick , job search and passion for football go their own way. The MDR documentary series is so exciting and captivating that you really want to know how it goes on.