Kids in the Spotlight (2019)

• 66%
• 2019
• Documentary
• Alice Agneskirchner

LAMPENFIEBER accompanies five children of the young ensemble of the Friedrichstadt-Palast during the creation of the new children's play from the castings to the rehearsals to the grand premiere evening in front of 2,000 spectators. We experience with them a year full of challenges: The long rehearsal process with many small and big successes and setbacks, the eager anticipation of the cast of the leading roles, competition and friendship and finally the big premiere. In addition to their everyday life at the palace, we also accompany the five in their private lives, at home and at school. We take part in their personal development, their dreams and fears, conflicts with their parents and the normal madness of puberty. Despite their different life stories, they all share a passion for the big stage. In the Friedrichstadt-Palast they grow beyond themselves as friends in order to realize their common dream. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Friedrichstadt-Palast in 2019, the film also tells a piece of German contemporary history through the eyes of the children and through their encounters with the house's long-standing employees: from its beginnings as a circus, the first blossoming in the 1920s, the destruction during the war, the reopening, the new building in the 1980s and the rise of the palace to the magnificent theatre of the GDR with guests from Louis Armstrong to Charles Aznavour.