For England the World Cup was no fairytale this summer, but England fans do have something to celebrate. In the new documentary "3 Lions, 23 Players & 100,000 Friendly Fans", director Jamie McDine from Wiltshire, now living in Germany, followed England fans around Germany highlighting their friendly behaviour and the move away from the stereotype of a drunk hooligan. "Having produced this film I have a much better understanding of the motivations of hooliganism, the problems of racism within football and how England fans really do get a bad press - we didn't achieve what was expected on the field, but off the field we were fantastic and fans of every nation celebrated the passion, volume and friendship of the England fans." said director Jamie McDine The film features FIFA officials, hooliganism experts, police and security officials, and meets fans of every nation at every host city throughout the World Cup - being produced from the perspective of the fans, not the team. "I think some people were surprised by the honesty of the film - the focus was on the friendly English fans, but that didnt mean anything was watered down for the audience. On the other hand, the film doesn't dramatise and exaggerate what happened - there was hardly any trouble at the World Cup. It was well organised, a fantastically friendly party and everyone from around the world was invited." Birger Schmidt, British Arts Council: "With 3 lions Jamie McDine impressively managed to capture the biggest Pop event ever to be organised by Germany. His film pays adequate tribute to those magical four weeks during summer 06 - it emphasises the wonderful togetherness of German, English and fans of all nations. The majority of cheerful and enthusiastic statements in the film prove that the international meetings throughout this tournament encouraged a decrease of prejudices that wasn´t considered to be possible. English fans were again welcome as "friendly fans". An extremely well made production with many pictures and a very high pace that enables the audience to relive those festive days - be it in Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Cologne or Berlin - and so shows, how frontiers and cultural differences were overcome." The world premiere of "3 Lions" was on Friday September 29th, to a sold out audience at the Schauspielhaus in Magdeburg. Helge Hübner, Theater Magdeburg: "While there was a certain element of risk involved in showing a film in English with German subtitles in the main theatre, as it was never tried out before in Magdeburg, the sheer number of people turning up (250 overall) already meant a big achievement- the great reception of the film with the audience of the premiere speaks for itself, and we hope that it was just a starting point and that many more people will be able to watch the film in both countries." It was not only the film that was shown at the theatre, but also the launch party for the DVD and a whole host of events were put on all under the banner of England and Football. Helge Hübner: "When Jamie approached us whether we would be interested in presenting the world premiere of "3 Lions, 23 Players and 100 000 Friendly Fans" at the Theatre Magdeburg we didn't need much persuasion; after all we knew Jamie's work from numerous prior projetcs and the film premiere fitted in perfectly with our aim to showcase and support local talent in our regular 'nachtcafé' series of events. Additionally the chosen topic of the film certainly broadened our usual range of events and reached out to new audiences and provided not only examples of 'Fanfreundschaft' but also between German and English audiences in general. We also tried to cater to the 'English'-centredness of the film and organised an opening night with a themed party, British food and drinks and ... football related events like a penalty shoot-out." German member of the audience, Thomas Mauer: "3 Lions captured the spirit of the World Cup. It was funny, moving, engaging and informative. Hopefully, it gets picked up by some top tv stations. Most stunning of all in the film - just as it was at the time - was the aftermath of England losing to Portugal and Germany losing to Italy. In both cases, it was expected that things could go south. In both cases, fans of the losing teams mourned the lost game - and then turned around to celebrate the victory of their opponents and soccer in general." Jamie McDine: "It was an incredible feeling to see 3 Lions on a 20 meter wide screen and relive the emotions of the World Cup with a packed audience. I was a little worried the English focus and content may be too much for the German audience, but it was the opposite - everyone loved the film, laughing at the comical parts, and getting caught up in the emotion all over again and celebrating the fantastic summer we all shared in Germany. Although I worked solidly on the film for months and have watched it so many times I still had that horrible feeling of despair and disappointment as England lost to Portugal - it's a horrible and beautiful feeling to relive through the film!" The film is available to buy on DVD for £10 and one lucky buyer will win an England shirt signed by the entire 23 man England squad at the World Cup. To buy the DVD visit the official website: www.3-lions.com