SYNOPSIS

California in Freiburg. An endless hot summer is approaching. The nostalgic Freiburg gym “Fitness California” with its strength athletes and unbreakable weight machines is one of the few relics of the Californian Fitness Boom of the 1980s. And it’s the little “dream factory” of three sports heroes who train here every day.

The German wrestling legends Adolf Seger, Bernd Fleig and Mario Sabatini are inseparably connected to each other with a blend of lively competition and deep friendship. Although they won countless Championships in the 60s and 70s and became wrestling idols, they stayed down-to-earth. Training was and is what gives their lives meaning.

Despite their own cracks in life, they are unswervingly on hand with help and advice for the motley crew of Fitness California, and demonstrate how community can be lived across borders by means of old virtues and passionate social commitment. If the three are not training, they are sitting at the counter of Dagmar Sabatini, who day in and day out has a sympathetic ear for everyone despite sweltering heat. Here old stories are brought to life: from the highs and lows of wrestling in the 60s and 70s, and the frenzied explosion of the fitness movement in the 80s, to the current personal life stories of the people who walk in the gym every day.

In this special milieu, nostalgia and utopia converge in front of the backdrop of an endless Californian summer.

MOTIVATION

I grew up in a family of athletes. The distinctive smell of gyms, blue mats, and tarnished black iron fills me with a profound sense of home.

To me, sports are about fair play, social responsibility, friendship, tolerance and community - values that are essential to holding societies together, not the profit-driven spectacle that has permeated the world of sports for decades. So imagine my surprise when I discovered that the city I grew up in is home to such a place steeped in warm atmosphere.

The gym "Fitness-Studio California " is a microcosm of our society, uniting people from all walks of life. They share a passion for sport and physical activity. Where you come from is irrelevant. Here, everyone has everyone else’s back. The people of California, in particular the amateur wrestling community don’t provide an answer to the question, “What does sport stand for?” Instead, they remind us to ask: “What should sport stand for?”

DISTRIBUTION

Filmfestivals:

• LICHTER Filmfest Frankfurt International 2023
  Winner of the Grand Prize

• Hessian Film Award 2023
  Nomimation: Best Feature-length Documentary Film

• Dokfest Munich 2023
  Nomination: German Documentary Filmmusic Award

• Provinziale Eberswalde 2023

• Biberacher Filmfestspiele 2023

• Filmschau BW 2023

• Paladino d’Oro 2022 – Palermo, Italy

Theater:

• Nationwide theatrical release tour in 2023/24, with 50 prints and more than 230 screenings

• 35 consecutive weeks at Freiburg’s arthouse cinema, Harmonie