Peter Wolf

Documentary about German football player Toni Kroos. Features a review of his recent career including his time at FC Bayern Munich and Real Madrid as well as his participation at FIFA Wold Cups 2014 and 2018.

“On the Wave” plunges audiences into the breathtaking and perilous world of big wave surfing through the life of Sebastian Steudtner, the German outsider who rose to become the sport’s world record holder. Born in landlocked Nuremberg, Steudtner abandoned school at sixteen to chase the ocean — a decision that led him from windsurfing in Hawaii to confronting towering walls of water few humans would dare approach. Shunned at first by the insular surf world, mocked onstage after career-defining rides, and often left without sponsors, he refused to quit. His relentless pursuit carried him from the icy shores of Ireland to the legendary swells of Nazaré, Portugal — the wave that would not only catapult him into the history books but also shift the center of big wave surfing to Europe.

Hard to imagine, but true: According to current estimates, out of 500,000 active male football professionals worldwide, under ten (10) are openly homosexual. While homosexuality hardly plays a role in other areas of life today, the topic seems to be completely taboo in professional football. The feature-length documentary THE LAST TABOO lets those who broke exactly this taboo tell their very personal stories alongside Thomas Hitzlsperger. Like the British professional footballer Justin Fashanu (*1961 in London; † 1998 in London), who broke this taboo for the first time in 1990 and paid for it with his life. His niece Amal tells his story. Marcus Urban, on the other hand, was about to make the jump to the Bundesliga as a teenager and, by deciding to come out, he also went against his big dream. The stories of the US professional Collin Martin and the British player-coach Matt Morton, on the other hand, suggest that normality is not far away.

The documentary Schwarze Adler (Black Eagles) lets black players of the German national football team tell their personal stories for the first time. What road did they take before they got to where we cheer for them? What hurdles did they have to overcome? What prejudices and racist hostility were they exposed to – and what was it like in the past, what is it like today?