Boys

This is a 7-part documentary series. It was created by two female filmmakers who interviewed a diverse group of about 30 ‘average’ men. Every episode focuses on one gender-related topic, such as masculinity, sexuality, family, body, feminism, love or Football. Those very personal and honest conversations reveal genuine thoughts and enlightening perspectives. Along with the series, an elaborate seeding campaign was set up to reach important influencers and opinion leaders, with the aim to create buzz about Boys in relevant communities. With this project, we wanted to ignite a widespread discussion about the status quo of male gender relations in our society. This is why we made the conscious decision to publish the series parallel to the start of the 2021 UEFA European Football Championship -a time during which masculinity is in the focus of public discourse and during which many young men visit our video platform (ZDFmediathek). The project and its seeding materials gained a broad audience in social networks and was discussed lively in the comment sections of different communities (politically interested groups, activists, LGBTQIA+ communities, etc.). Through our project and its distribution efforts, we were able to generate new audiences that came to our platform for the first time. Also, the average watch time was on a very high level at 71 percent.