tom gramenz swen gippa a film by stéphane riethauser - prora

PITCHProra, on the Baltic Sea. Mysterious, endless. In this deserted former Nazi holiday campand communist military complex, teenagers Jan and Matthieu embark on an adventure thatconfronts their identities and puts their friendship at risk.www.prora-themovie.com

SYNOPSISProra, Rügen Island, Baltic Sea. A deserted Nazi holiday camp and communist militarycomplex - one of Germany's largest and most bizarre structures. Jan, 17, a rather timidGerman teenager, spends his summer holidays with his friend Matthieu, 18, a French selfproclaimedmacho womanizer. After a frustrating night in the local club, the two boys decideto hang out on the beach at sunrise. What starts as an innocent game soon develops intoan ambiguous confrontation, when Matthieu takes his friend along into the abandonedbuilding, and provokes him by making fun of Germany’s past. After a chase through Prora’sendless hallways, Jan provokes Matthieu in return by suddenly kissing him on the lips. Thetwo friends unexpectedly embark on an erotic game that puts their friendship at risk.Overwhelmed by their feelings, they try to escape, but they get lost in Prora’s labyrinthineseries of rooms and walkways. Desperate, tortured, a fight breaks out that leaves Jan aloneand wounded. A few days later, Jan and Matthieu meet again on the beach. Will theybecome friends again before they part?A journey of self-exploration, an odyssey of male adolescence, Prora is a thrilling, tenderstory about love and friendship.www.prora-themovie.com

PRORAAt a staggering 4,5 km in length, Prora is a former holiday camp built from 1936 to 1939 bythe Nazis. The structure is located on the Island of Rügen, just north of the Germanmainland in the Baltic Sea. Designed by Hitler-appointed architect Clemens Klotz, thismassive outlay of concrete was meant to host 20,000 people for a strictly controlledvacation. But war interrupted construction in 1939. The „Colossus of Rügen Island“ wasused as a military hospital and a refugee camp, before the Red Army took it over in 1945.Communist East Germany turned it into a military base. For almost 40 years, Prora servedas a training camp for soldiers and officers. It was abandoned shortly after the Berlin Wallcame down in 1989.Prora (Latin), πρῷρα (Greek): the prow, the bow of a ship or a vessel.www.prora-themovie.com

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENTI was working on a script about two boys confronting their identities when one day I read anewspaper article about Prora. I immediately thought it would be the perfect setting to stagemy story. Its endless dimensions allowed unusual cinematic possibilities and its massivelyhistoric and oppressive architecture offered many symbolic perspectives. I also liked thename “Prora”, which in Latin and Greek means the prow of a ship. It matched my desire totell the story of the two friends Jan and Matthieu, one German and the other French.Despite opposite backgrounds and personalities, Jan and Matthieu gradually feel attractedto each other until they unexpectedly have sex for the first time. But they have troublecoming to terms with it: their physical and emotional outburst blows up their culturalpatterns, blurs their relationship and challenges their masculinity. Nonetheless, theirfriendship prevails. The experience deepens their understanding of their own identities.Whether gay or straight, Jan and Matthieu will never forget this adventure, which opens newhorizons and allows them to become men.I see Prora’s labyrinthine structure as a third lead character in the story. A vestige of thepast, a witness of failed fascist and communist utopias, the complex reveals the tensionbetween the boys and provides a stark contrast with the sensuous beauty of the adjacentBaltic Sea. A statement on the perils of normative heterosexism, Prora underscores thepoisonous inflexibility of Jan and Matthieu’s inherited social landscape.Given the building’s extraordinary suggestive power, I also built in solitary time for both Janand Matthieu in and around the structure. Over the course of the film, the monstrosityrenders the boys at once more fragile, more resilient and more human. Only on the beach,wordless and elemental, are they able to reconcile.A journey of self-exploration, a tale of male adolescence, a parabolic confrontation betweennature and culture, Prora is a simple, tender story about love and friendship.Stéphane Riethauserwww.prora-themovie.com

STEPHANE RIETHAUSERWriter, Director, ProducerStéphane Riethauser was born in 1972 in Geneva, Switzerland. He holds a law degreefrom the University of Geneva. Over the years, he has been working as a teacher, gayactivist, photographer, editor, journalist and translator – before becoming a televisiondirector. He is the author of “A visage découvert”, a photography book about coming out(Ed. Slatkine, 2000), and has created numerous documentaries and reports for SwissRadio Television RTS (2003-2008). He also produced and co-directed documentaryfeature “Le Temps Suspendu” on painter Marius Borgeaud (Lambda Prod, 2007). Since2009, Stéphane Riethauser has lived and worked as an independent filmmaker in Berlin.“Prora” is his first fiction short film.For full bio and filmography: www.riethauser.com / www.lambda-prod.chContact: stephane@riethauser.comwww.prora-themovie.com

TOM GRAMENZTom Gramenz, born 1991 in Wiesbaden, Germany, started his acting career at the age of 15. His first filmis a short film called “Fluke”. Since then, he has been seen in many TV shows for major German broadcasterssuch as RTL, ZDF and Nick. Tom has also acted in several theatre projects in Wiesbaden andMainz. Recently, he starred in “Beach Boy” (short by Hannes Hirsch, GER, 2010) and in the TV series“Soko Köln” and “Stolberg”.SWEN GIPPASwen Gippa, born 1988, is a promising new talent from Montreux, Switzerland, currently living in Paris.Swen graduated in 2009 from the prestigious Cours Florent in Paris before joining Acting International, afilm, theatre and TV school, for an extra year. He has already been seen in theatre in Paris and Lyon andin two films, “Noirs peupliers” (2009) by Warren Vrecord and “On y danse” (2010) by Franck Llopis andVirginie Bordes. Swen is also a talented sportsman and plays piano and classical guitar.www.prora-themovie.com

PRODUCTION CREWProductionCoproductionWith the support ofLead Actor (Jan)Lead Actor (Matthieu)Writer, Director, ProducerAssociate ProducerDirector of PhotographySound1st Asst. DirectorCamera AssistantCostume & PropsMake-Up & SFXLocation ManagerAerial PhotographyEditingMusic composerSound DesignSound MixDistribution GER / CH / AUTDistribution WORLDLambda Prod – Stéphane RiethauserSwiss Radio Television RTSSwiss Federal Office of Culture – Federal Departmentof Home AffairsCity of Geneva, Department of Culture and SportsRegio Films Fund, with the Loterie Romande, the City & theCanton of GenevaMigros Culture PercentageDialogai, GenevaTom GramenzSwen GippaStéphane RiethauserIsabelle GattikerMarcus WinterbauerCarlos Ibañez DiazMarie-Catherine TheilerNicolas DelarocheIngrid BuhrmannTanja Maria KollerPetra WildHolger Fleig & Volker Tittel, BVKBarbara Toennieshen, BFSVéronique RotelliDavid PerrenoudBenoît MayerCarlos Ibañez DiazMartin StrickerEdition Salzgeber, Berlin – ammann@salzgeber.deLambda Prod – stephane@lambda-prod.chwww.prora-themovie.com

TECHNICAL DATAProduction year 2012Production countrySwitzerlandLength23 min.Shooting format HD Video 16:9 Color – 1:78Available screening formatsDCP PALHDCAM PAL or NTSCDIGIBETA PALBETA SP PALDVD region 0, 1, allMEDIA FILE .MOVOriginal languageGerman and FrenchSubtitlesEnglish(available in French & German also)www.prora-themovie.com