Steff Gruber (born 3 April 1953 in Zurich, Switzerland) is a Swiss film director, photographer, author, entrepreneur, and telecommunications and internet pioneer.
Life and Background
Gruber is the son of painter Hannes Gruber and Annemarie Gruber-Vogelsanger. He grew up in Oberrieden on Lake Zurich. As a child, he aspired to be a pilot and inventor, building his first radio receiver at age eight. At fifteen, during the first crewed Moon landing, he succeeded in listening to the dialogue between astronauts and ground control. He began training as an electronics engineer but abandoned the course to pursue filmmaking.
Film Career
In the 1970s, Gruber was among the first filmmakers to work in the docudrama genre. His first feature-length film, Moon in Taurus (1980), was nominated at the Mannheim Film Festival. His second film, Fetish & Dreams (1985), premiered in competition at the Locarno International Film Festival, winning a prize for "directorial originality in dealing with documentary and feature film elements." It was also the first video-to-35mm transfer in Swiss cinema, using a method Gruber developed himself.
In 1987, Werner Herzog invited Gruber to document the making of Cobra Verde in Ghana, resulting in the documentary Location Africa (1987), which chronicles the last collaboration between Herzog and Klaus Kinski. Gruber's later films include Secret Moments (2006), Passion Despair (2011), and Fire, Fire, Desire! (2017), a love odyssey inspired by Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.
Photography
Gruber has worked as a press photographer for Keystone Press since the 1970s. In 1977, he developed a photographic technique called "diatypie," fusing diapositives with instant images. His long-term photo series include documentation of the floating villages on Lake Tonle Sap in Cambodia. He founded the independent photography magazine TOX and, in 2020, launched the Lumiere.Gallery platform for digital photo exhibitions. His photography has received numerous international awards, including gold and platinum honors at the Muse Photography Awards, New York Photography Awards, and Prix de la Photographie Paris.
Internet Pioneering
Gruber was an early internet pioneer. Through his association Cultnet (founded 1980), he was responsible for the first internet service provider (ISP) in Switzerland, offering free public dial-up access. In 1995, his company launched web.ch, the first Swiss search engine. He gained media attention in 2000 when Microsoft's Xbox console name conflicted with his pre-registered domain XBOX.COM, which he had owned for years. He has financed many projects through the sale of internet domains.
Other Activities
Gruber is a licensed pilot and an active amateur radio operator (callsign HB9FXL). He founded the WaveFactory association, dedicated to ionospheric research and antenna development. He is managing director of ALIVE Media AG, KINO.NET AG, and media.ch AG. In 1995, he opened the Erotic Book Store (EBS) in Zurich, the first bookshop in Europe to specialize exclusively in erotic literature.
Selected Filmography
- Moon in Taurus (1980) – docudrama
- Fetish & Dreams (1985) – docudrama
- Location Africa (1987) – documentary
- Secret Moments (2006) – documentary
- Passion Despair (2011) – documentary
- Fire, Fire, Desire! (2017) – feature film
