Seldom has an election campaign been as exciting, varied and unpredictable as the 2002 German general elections - and seldom has there been greater media interest.

By the time voters went to the polls on 22nd September they had followed each step of the election campaign on their television screens in countless variations, including the first TV duel in German television history between a Chancellor and his challenger. The electorate saw Schröder and Stoiber travelling through the country, and by now they were well aware that there was a whole legion of advisers behind each of the leading politicians - and in this election, for the first time, these people stepped out of the shadows of their candidates into the glare of public attention.

The chancellor makers are the heroes of this film which, six weeks after the election, takes the time to review the election campaign from the perspective of the political background activists. The main figures here are Matthias Machnig (national SPD party manager and head of the SPD election campaign head office Kampa) and Michael Spreng (former editor of the leading tabloid newspaper Bild am Sonntag and Edmund Stoiber’s media adviser). The film “The Chancellor Makers” is the only documentary production to have accompanied these two senior figures, standing alongside Schröder and Stoiber throughout the 2002 election campaign and right up until polling day itself. Through a series of long interviews the director has succeeded in gaining close access to the protagonists, who provide very personal statements - at times commentating offscreen on the events of the campaign - and thus give viewers an insight into the whole course of this thrilling battle, from the most intimate perspective.

Machnig was a close observer of the American presidential campaign between Clinton and Dole, which prompted him to set up an external Campaign Central Office for the SPD. He is extremely proud of Kampa 02, which had already helped the SPD to victory in the 1998 general elections. In contrast, Spreng was only appointed election adviser by Edmund Stoiber in 2002. “Power? I have none, of course! I'm a service provider. And Stoiber is my boss.” Spreng’s colleagues initially greeted him with mistrust: “At first there was a certain friction there, especially from members of the CDU/CSU who felt I had trod heavily on their feet in my career as a journalist. And there was even the suspicion that I had somehow been smuggled into the CDU by Schröder in order to sabotage the election campaign.”

The two election campaign managers, though opponents, were united by a common goal: to celebrate a very personal victory when the polls had closed. “The only thing you can get in this job is a bit of respect. Nothing more.” As well as reporting on the events themselves, the film “The Chancellor Makers” is also a search for the personal substance contained in the media and election campaign 2002. The production accompanies the two protagonists and their teams to their respective central offices, on campaign trips and at party conferences, as well as examining the environment of the TV duel. In many cases the minor scenes on the edge of the major action are the ones with their own comic absurdity. The campaigners reveal their euphoria, frustration, exhaustion and above all their iron will - but also the constant fear of defeat.

The weight of public opinion rests heavily on the shoulders of the two chancellor-makers; after all, the election result will demonstrate the voters’ opinion of their work. This tension is reflected in particular in the way these men behave in front of the cameras, making the film a gripping “work in progress” with people who alternates between friendly openness and cool distance depending on the results of the latest opinion polls. Machnig was unable to expect much solidarity from his colleagues. Franz Müntefering: “Matthias had to put up with an awful lot, sure he did. If the SPD had ended up in a mess, he would have carried the can for it. He did put up with everything, so I could be more relaxed with him. That's the way life is, especially in this kind of job.” His relationship to Chancellor Schröder is similarly pragmatic: “It's a working relationship; you don't have to love each other,” says Machnig.

On the evening of the election the champagne bottles were already being opened at CDU/CSU headquarters - but then the details began to come out: it emerged that the red-green coalition had won the election by a few percentage points. Machnig: “And in the end everybody is always right. If you win, everybody is always right. If we had lost, I would have been wrong. I always knew that. And now I wasn't right, but everybody else was right.”

These two rivals may have appeared to be bitter opponents behind the scenes, and yet they were prepared to meet once again for this film and to talk about the nerve-wracking period of the election campaign together. The professional future of each of the chancellor-makers is open, not to say unclear. Machnig dreams of Australia, Spreng of a trip around the world. It's a fine thing to still have dreams which are not politically motivated. Machnig: “And you know what I am looking forward to most? The 2006 general election. Because then I'll just be watching.”