From the life of influencer Leo Balys

Cell phone, cell phone in hand, who gets the most likes across the country? Leonie Balys is 13 years old when she uploads her first video on YouTube. This is 2017, the “leoobalys” account already exists on Instagram, and the number of people – mostly girls her age – who follow her on social networks is growing rapidly.

When Leonie met the documentary filmmaker Susanne Regina Meures in the same year, she already had half a million followers. In other words, people who want a piece of “Leo” every day. Today, five years later, there are 1.6 million on Instagram alone. It’s as if someone had mobilized the entire Spanish city of Barcelona. Meures’ documentary “Girl Gang” tells how Leonie’s dream of great success becomes more real click by click and like by like.

It would shock some parents to know that so many people are looking at pictures and videos of their child. The couple Andreas and Sani Balys, on the other hand, quickly recognize the potential of their daughter: an influencer. The parents quit their jobs and become the full-time managers of a fourteen-year-old girl. May Leonie’s future, and hers too, be filled with money and happiness.

Filter-free view of the world of influencers

But what remains of a person when so many want a piece of him? What price does a teenager pay for online reach? How does a family change when the child earns all the money? Can you grow up with someone watching you all the time? The documentary filmmaker Meures, a graduate of the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), investigates these questions.

She accompanies Leonie and her parents for more than four years, films what Leonie’s mobile phone camera leaves out and tells the career of an influencer without filters and blurring. “Girl Gang” is heading for an escalation so straightforwardly and without frills that one wonders in the cinema seat whether this is a real documentary – or rather the incredibly realistically staged story of a girl who is a piece of teenage for the influencer dream. have to give up the present.

The perfect reality

For Leonie, a like on social networks feels like applause. In reality, however, she is sometimes afraid of her fans. Because they nearly crush each other while waiting to meet their idol at a department store opening. Because they follow her to hug her and finally take a photo of this unknown person who has long since become her best friend on her screen.

There’s also Melanie, one of those fans, maybe the biggest. Melanie has no friends, she has a mobile phone. And with it access to Leonie whenever she feels like it; mostly twelve or more hours a day.

In addition, Leonie’s father, who says things like: “My life is so much more exciting now. It’s amazing what Leo enables us to do. If something went wrong, I probably wouldn’t even notice. You’re so overwhelmed with happiness.” And the mother, who at some point decides that she also needs a life outside of her daughter’s childhood dreams – and becomes an influencer herself.

happiness and money for the child

But there is no doubt: The Balys family is real and quite often unfiltered. The suspicion that we are looking at a feature film is due to a remarkable selection of protagonists and scenes, a lot of patience and built-up trust, as well as a grandiose editing.

There are beautiful scenes at the beginning. The three Balys laughing in the living room. There is a makeshift pool in the garden, it probably didn’t cost much and was a lot of fun. Father Andreas, patiently obeying the photo direction of his fourteen-year-old. Leonie sits in front of her math homework, makes a short video for Instagram, then continues to calculate diligently.

Mother, father and child talk like a team, like equal partners. You think they have it good, these three. Can’t imagine them all ever wishing the internet would go away for a while.

“Dropped with Happiness”

But with Leonie’s success, the pressure increases. Deliver even more, reveal even more, stage even more authenticity. But even more money, even more exciting orders, even more invitations, even more opportunities. The parents are East Berliners, grew up in the GDR with the dream of being free. The fact that the online success draws a wall around Leonie, which threatens to be as insurmountable as the one that fell in 1989, escapes the two. “Dropped with happiness.”

Meures asks the father and manager whether Leonie has to cut corners for success. Not really, he says after a moment’s thought. Sure, go partying, meet new people, Leonie can’t do that. But otherwise? He shakes his head. Success at a bargain price. In the background, the water in the new, spacious pool is glistening.

“Girl Gang” will be screened on Sunday, September 25, in the presence of the director and protagonist at the Zurich Film Festival (ZFF).