A mysterious murder in the Provinciehuis in Groningen: it is the setting of the film Who Killed Kenya that Nathan Lauer made with more than a hundred international students. The film will premiere in the Forum on Saturday.
Students from all over the world come together in Groningen for a week to reenact a United Nations conference. They all want the same thing: to be the best at debating and negotiating. Until one of them is killed. The rest try to find out who the culprit is. This is the content of the feature film in a nutshell Who Killed Kenya directed by International Relations student Nathan Lauer (24).
A murder mystery seemed to him an ideal starting point for a film about the role-playing game Model United Nations (MUN), which is internationally popular among millions of people. They travel to different cities for it. ,,When you put so many people in a room, the tension certainly rises and healthy competition turns into something much darker”, says Nathan. The title of the film is of course already exciting, he says. “You already know that something is going to happen to the character Kenya, but not when and by whom.”
The student takes his seat with a sigh of relief. In recent weeks, he and his friends have been working hard, but now the German film director has plenty of time for an interview. His new film is finally finished. “Before I left home, I pressed the button to finish the film and saw that it was going to take 21 hours. So I have all day.”
‘A film for people who are not MUN nerds like me’
The young filmmaker spent two years working on his film about the MUN. In this role-playing game, mainly schoolchildren and students imitate diplomats from different countries, in a meeting of the United Nations in a different, random city. Participants learn how to negotiate and resolve political conflicts. The student who does this best wins a prize. A MUN congress often lasts less than a week. The MUN is also held in Groningen every year in March at different locations: the GrunnMUN.
Nathan is an idol of the MUN. At the age of 17, he traveled the world for a year with saved money to attend as many of the conventions as possible. ,,Some people go to South America for six months, but I went to New York, Moscow, Helsinki, Madrid, Vienna and The Hague in a year. I find it fascinating to meet young people all over the world and practice diplomacy with them.”
The MUN is not the only thing Nathan is obsessed with. The other thing is making movies. As a child he already made short films with his own camera. When he entered high school, larger productions followed along with classmates, just like music videos and documentaries. In his student days in Groningen he already made a feature film without the support of a film company, but Who Killed Kenya must be his best film to date. “I wanted to make a truthful film without making it boring for people who aren’t MUN nerds like me.”
‘There was a real team feeling’
Nathan was the director, writer, cinematographer and producer. The project turned from its own child into a team effort with the help of more than a hundred enthusiastic filmmakers. So it became a huge production, unique for an independent film, without a big budget. “It was a snowball effect: everyone knew another film enthusiast who wanted to help with something. There was a real team spirit. Everyone was so motivated and helpful, some taking on complete responsibilities like the costumes and sound. I couldn’t have done it without all those people.”
The idea for the movie came from his mother years ago, just like the movie title. ,, She said: if you make another film, you should make it about the MUN and about a murder of one of the participants. She came with the representative of Kenya, a country with a k, because a title like Who Killed Kenya alliterates nicely. I was immediately enthusiastic about the idea and kept it in the back of my mind.”
The idea ended up on the shelf. When he became a member of TEIMUN, the MUN association in Groningen, in 2021, he started to itch to actually make the film. He successfully pitched the idea including script to the board and was given the freedom to make the film as he saw fit. Through funds he managed to arrange a budget of 5500 euros.
‘He plays an asshole very convincingly’
In his film, all characters have the name of the country they represent. Kenya is a ruthless character who is so eager to win the competition that it kills him. The actor who plays Kenya was the first to cast Nathan: “He’s one of the nicest people I know, but he can play an asshole very convincingly.”
The main character is Estonia, the representative of Estonia. She is a woman who is new to the MUN and tries to solve the murder of Kenya together with a journalist. “In many films, America is always the hero and Russia the villain. I wanted to change that, so in my film it’s Kenya and Estonia.”
‘A kind of eternity that fits the grandeur of the MUN’
The film was shot in the Provinciehuis, the Academy Building, the Noorderplantsoen and the Stadspark. ,,The Provincial House and the Academy Building have a kind of eternity and grandeur that fits the grandeur of the MUN”, says Nathan enthusiastically.
His fondest memory of making the movie had to do with a location where they were going to shoot a gala. Two days before shooting, Nathan and his crew suddenly had to look for a new location. Hotel De Doelen helped them out at the last minute. “It turned out to be such a beautiful place. We had absolutely no time to prepare, but everyone was so well attuned to each other that it went flawlessly. That really showed the strength of the team and made me super proud as a director.”
After the private premiere on Saturday in the Forum, Nathan wants to show the film in a number of other places, such as the USVA. After that, the film must be available online for anyone who wants to see it: ,,It is a film with an international story for a worldwide audience.” Making the film tasted like more. “This group of enthusiasts will probably make more films together.”