KAMPF DER KÖNIGINNEN - BATTLE OF THE QUEENS

by Nicolas Steiner
70’, Germany, 2011
Italian premiere
The battles of the queens are an ancient tradition in the Alps. In an arena filled with thousands of spectators, tough “horn to horn” combat takes place between cows. During the year, breeders prepare their animals for battle. This documentary intertwines and recounts three stories. The first is that of a breeder with the “queen” that he loves, cares for, and prepares for combat. There is also the story of a French journalist who has come to this Swiss valley to document the spectacular battles. And, finally, there is a gang of adolescents who have reached the battle site by motorcycle, yet seem more interested in the young girls than in the show of muscle, sweat, and locked horns. The breeders are agitated: numbers are given to the cows and everyone heads for the arena where the fighting begins. The frequent use of slow motion and the images in black and white accentuate the harshness of the battles. And all around, the people participate in a spectacle that has its roots in the most archaic traditions of the Swiss valleys.
 

	Nicolas Steiner Nicolas Steiner was born in Sitten (Switzerland) in 1984. He worked as a percussionist, an actor, and a lighting assistant before devoting himself, in 2005, to film studies, first at the European Film College in Denmark, and later at the Filmakademie Baden-Wüttemberg in Ludwigsburg. With the film Kampf der Königinnen he participated in the sixty-first edition of Berlinale.