About the Story

Breaking Walls is a film that goes beyond the story of a Water Polo team. It is the story of a man
who, in the middle of the Cold War, put together in Berlin the most talented players from different
nationalities and built a family of heroes that ended up becoming the best water polo team of that
time, inspiring a whole nation.
The greatest value of this underdog story relies in the fact that every member of the team had to
overcome personal and professional obstacles, walls, and borders to achieve their dreams, being
the Berlin Wall the biggest obstacle to overcome.

This team not only played an important role in a
social and cultural context, but also in the
political arena. Its value goes beyond the pride a
winning team can offer to its society. In addition
to such an exciting honor, Balen and his team
were politically crucial for Berlin’s reputation.
Once a city that was in crisis, the team brought
pride and excitement back to Berlin, causing the
rest of the country to cast their eyes upon the
city again.
In our film, the personal and professional
aspirations of an encouraged team that gave
everything they had to become champions in the
middle of a tough political and cultural context
are very well reflected.

25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Balen’s
legacy is more alive than ever. Golden Ceiba
Productions strongly believes that his team’s
role in the Berlin Wall Era was a model of the
subsequent reunification process. On purpose
or not, Alfred Balen helped with the unification of
a then divided Germany through the
conformation of an eclectic team whose players
came from both East Germany and West
Germany and also from Latin America and other
European countries. The team’s passion went
beyond political or ideological frontiers and as a
result of that, their talent, strength, energy and
successes arose during a critical era, and
endured many years after the fall of the Berlin
Wall thanks to their multiple victories. This was
possible because Alfred Balen was able to
nurture a team united so closely, they could be
considered one person. Much like the famous
historical motto during the fall of the Berlin Wall:
Wir sind ein Volk. We are one people.

This visionary was Alfred
Balen, a wise and witty coach
who created an inclusive and
tolerant team that became a
real family in spite of their
cultural differences.
With a unique vision and
ideals of unity, friendship, and
family he raised, taught, and
took care of his team which
won consecutively as many
cups and championships as
they could, entering the
Guinness Book of World
Records.

This legacy has endured in the lives of each
team member, and it is Golden Ceiba
Productions’ purpose to promote it around
the world through the production of a film
based on this touching story.
We strongly believe that this underdog story
deserves to be told. The subject is
internationally appealing, touchy and the film
narrates the lives of these players and their
coach, all intertwined with the Fall of the
Berlin Wall, a political event that changed
the history of the world in the social and
political arena.

A Water Polo Team that came from
nothing, even though it was located in
Berlin during the Cold War, in the
middle of political conflict post WWII, with
a wall dividing the city, and socialism and
capitalism fighting to take control during
this politically tense period.
Throughout all this they became the
biggest motivation of its society, and
against all odds they soon became the
best Water Polo team in the world.

Through the production of this film
Golden Ceiba Productions will let
audiences around the world know the
legacy of coach Alfred Balen, and the
value, determination, talent and
power of the players of that time.
This encouraging story will be a
tribute to Alfred and to all the Water
Polo players from the 80’s.

Why is
BREAKING WALLS
an appealing story?

BREAKING WALLS is a safe film on commercial levels and has
universal appeal because of its topic and narrative: it is an underdog,
emotional, propulsive and strongly inspirational story.
This type of story usually shows that hard work, faith and perseverance
bring out justice at the end, pervades the audience with the feelings of
empowerment and self-confidence, and evokes certain levels of
happiness all of which make audiences consume underdog stories.
Our film will show real values within real characters: the basic type of
people that everybody knows and can identify with.
Additionally, the advantage of sport movies relies on the fact that sports
are common to all the countries in the world no matter race, language,
religion, social and economic classes, etc.

Aesthetic and
Cinematic Value

Breaking Walls will be shot with
the highest quality, so the film will
be able to compete with the best
Hollywood films in the international
market, and in the most renowned
film festivals.
The cinematography of the film will
count on a high quality aesthetic
value which will make audiences
feel they are in the vein of the 80’s
through the creation of an
authentic atmosphere that will
depict the aesthetic of the era.
The sets, costumes, props, and
make up will evoke the 80’s, and
the color palette (desaturated
brown-gold) will be used in
tandem with the tones and
textures of The Berlin Wall and the
Germany of that epoch.

The production of BREAKING
WALLS and its international
commercialization will also help
promote Water Polo as an
important sport, not only in the
countries where it is commonly
practiced and well known, but
also in those places where it is
not practiced or widely known.
Films are a great tool for
promotion because they are
massively exhibited in different
countries at a time, and have a
huge impact on audiences
regardless culture, religion, or
social class.

With the production of our film, any
party involved in the sponsorship of
the project will obtain a set of extra
benefits such a publicity through the
different opportunities available
(product placement, promotional
clips, promotion through the film’s
P&A, etc.)

Advantages for
our SPONSORS

Some facts
about our FILM

BREAKING WALLS is a
universally appealing and
inspirational underdog story
based on the true story of
“Alfred Balen”, a Water Polo
coach who, in the middle of
the Cold War, put together a
team of talented players that
had to face personal and
professional walls, obstacles,
barriers, and boundaries in
order to achieve their dream
of becoming the best team in
the world– being the Berlin
Wall the major obstacle to
overcome.

BREAKING WALLS is a universally
appealing and inspirational underdog
movie based on a true story and
taking place during the Cold War and
the Fall of the Berlin Wall. It will be
shot this Fall in Berlin.

Fact Sheet

Genre: Underdog, Inspirational
Nationality: Germany – USA
Location: Berlin
Language: English
Color: Color
Format: HD finished in 35mm
with 5.1 Dolby
Duration: 90 minutes
Script Writer: Guillermo Ivan
Script Consultant: Armando Fernandez
Current State: In Development

Proposed CAST

Stellan Skarsgård
as Alfred Balen

Hier der Link zum Promovideo

http://breakingWalls.wasserballecke.de

Passwort: BreakingWalls1A02