When a man is sexually abused, he is often expected to have fought back. When he didn't, when his body simply froze, the shame of that moment can become its own secret, carried alone for years.

Riposte follows a traumatised fencer (Diron Sterk) navigating the aftermath of abuse by someone he trusted. Someone still present in his life, his fencing coach (Jan Kooijman). The film traces what happens in the body and mind when a person freezes: the confusion, the self-blame, the slow loss of control over one's own story. And then the struggle to take it back.

The film was made to bring visibility to a largely unspoken subject: sexual violence against men, and the freeze response that so often follows. Research shows that male victims rarely come forward, fearing their experience won't be taken seriously or that their silence will be held against them. Riposte meets that silence without judgment, and opens space for recognition.

A special thanks to Markoesa Hamer, whose expertise as one of the Netherlands' foremost intimacy coordinators shaped this project in ways that mattered. Riposte was co-funded by Stichting Achmea Slachtoffer en Samenleving (SASS). This short is both a film and an invitation: to understand, to speak, and to be heard.