TOM GRAMENZ SWEN GIPPA A FILM BY STÉPHANE ... - prora

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DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT I was working on a script about two boys confronting their identities when one day I read a newspaper article about Prora. I immediately thought it would be the perfect setting to stage my story. Its endless dimensions allowed unusual cinematic possibilities and its massively historic and oppressive architecture offered many symbolic perspectives. I also liked the name “Prora”, which in Latin and Greek means the prow of a ship. It matched my desire to tell 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 attracted to each other until they unexpectedly have sex for the first time. But they have trouble coming to terms with it: their physical and emotional outburst blows up their cultural patterns, blurs their relationship and challenges their masculinity. Nonetheless, their friendship prevails. The experience deepens their understanding of their own identities. Whether gay or straight, Jan and Matthieu will never forget this adventure, which opens new horizons and allows them to become men. I see Prora’s labyrinthine structure as a third lead character in the story. A vestige of the past, a witness of failed fascist and communist utopias, the complex reveals the tension between the boys and provides a stark contrast with the sensuous beauty of the adjacent Baltic Sea. A statement on the perils of normative heterosexism, Prora underscores the poisonous inflexibility of Jan and Matthieu’s inherited social landscape. Given the building’s extraordinary suggestive power, I also built in solitary time for both Jan and Matthieu in and around the structure. Over the course of the film, the monstrosity renders 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 between nature and culture, Prora is a simple, tender story about love and friendship. Stéphane Riethauser www.<strong>prora</strong>-themovie.com
STEPHANE RIETHAUSER Writer, Director, Producer Stéphane Riethauser was born in 1972 in Geneva, Switzerland. He holds a law degree from the University of Geneva. Over the years, he has been working as a teacher, gay activist, photographer, editor, journalist and translator – before becoming a television director. 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 Swiss Radio Television RTS (2003-2008). He also produced and co-directed documentary feature “Le Temps Suspendu” on painter Marius Borgeaud (Lambda Prod, 2007). Since 2009, 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.ch Contact: stephane@riethauser.com www.<strong>prora</strong>-themovie.com
Page 1 and 2: Tom Gramenz Swen Gippa A film by ST
Page 3 and 4: PITCH Prora, on the Baltic Sea. Mys
Page 5: PRORA At a staggering 4,5 km in len
Page 9 and 10: PRODUCTION CREW Production Lambda P

TOM GRAMENZ SWEN GIPPA A FILM BY STÉPHANE ... - prora

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