GANGSTER GIRLS depicts every day life at Schwarzau, Austria's only women's prison. Why are these women behind bars? How does prison life affect them? The prisioners explore these questions in a theater workshop.

“Women under the influence: Tina Leisch’s excellent prison documentary. […] In her cinematic début theatre director Tina Leisch has made a surprisingly compact, multi-faceted milieu study which succeeds to a considerable extent in breaking away from its own shackles: GANGSTER GIRLS, which arose from one of Leisch’s theatre projects, presents accounts and personal stories of women behind bars without any patronising commentary. The filmmaker does not dramatise or sanitise the material, relying entirely on the fascinating protagonists - who conceal their identity behind their garish theatre make-up.” (Stefan Grissemann, Profil) “What started off as a small 'making-of' feature about a theatre project, has become a major film containing a great deal of what the cinema does best: depicting crimes, everyday life and grand emotions. Using art to make reality more penetrating, as if it were not art at all.” (Veronika Franz, Kurier/Austria)