2012, 60 min
Written, directed and edited by Stephan Hilpert
Cinematography: Thomas Beckmann
Produced by the University of Television and Film Munich
Observational documentary on the German women’s national chess team competing at the Olympiad
"The younger you are, the more aggressive you play". Three-way themed film about trial and error, "The Chess Players" is the chronicle of the 2008 Chess Olympiad in Germany and the failure to reach the set goal, perpetuated through the generation clash. Paradigm on pride and moderation, Stephan Hilpert's documentary is a mosaic of incompatible characters and psychologies. The focus stays on the team captain as a national emblem in Elisabeth Pähtz, the precocious fighting figure, trained by her own father - the youngest national chess champion. Chess, as a mental combat against one's own confining adamancy, is shown, past the competitional context, as a stage of personal growth and a moral example of passing fame, of precarity and insufficiency, about youth's thriving talent, of self-regeneration lacking weariness and the unbalanced pride power games. (Laura Dumitrescu)
Festivals: Astra Film Festival (Sibiu/Romania), Oaxaca FilmFest (Oaxaca/Mexico)