Fourteen-year-old Leonie lives a life that every teenager today dreams of. She soon has a million followers on social media, while bathing in products that various companies send her in hopes of appearing on her channels. Her posts become more professional as the performance anxiety and demands on her increase. Her parents want nothing more than for her to have a better life than they have had, they also understand that they are faced with the unique opportunity to live a life of financial freedom. Where is the limit? How much of one’s own life can one give out? And when does a person stop being just a person and become a product? We get an intimate portrait of a teenager, who, like many others of the same age, is entering the adult world, but in Leonie’s case it is in front of a million followers who analyze every step she takes.
Director Susanne Regina Meures got the idea for the film when she saw a group of girls making TikTok videos in a park in Berlin in 2017. She interviewed around 160 teenagers between the ages of 12 and 15 before finding Leonie. In many ways, Leonie’s story reflects the dreams many young people have today, to break through early as influencers and live a comfortable life with endless resources for new products and attention. Here, not only the front of life is depicted in the phone’s spotlight. But also the heavy back.
– Mia Rogersdotter Gran
