Discoveries from Switzerland World Cinema

SINESTESIA chronicles the vicissitudes of four young adults in two moments of their lives which are in turn linked to two dramatic episodes three years apart. The intervening years see the characters confronted by the usual joys and difficulties of everyday life. However, they also find themselves having to react to a destiny which, every now and again, places a crossroads in our way. The main character is Alan (Alessio Boni). Around him are his wife, Françoise (Giorgia Wurth), his young lover Michela (Melanie Winiger), and Igor (Leonardo Nigro), his best friend.

End of 2011. Pippo Delbono and Giovanni Senzani, the former leader of the Red Brigades recently released from prison, decide to get back together on their relationship with violence, with dreams of revolution, with the world today, and Italy in ruins. For a book, or a movie ... But the reality is that almost making mock of their projects, the death surprises them. Pippo rushed to the bedside of his sick mother, a fervent Catholic and a former elementary school teacher who hated the Communists ... While Anna, after waiting 23 years, her husband Giovanni came out of prison, gets sick in turn. Despite their efforts, the two women die three days apart. Pippo and Giovanni suddenly find themselves orphans, vulnerable, exposed. Meanwhile, L'Aquila, the city disfigured by the earthquake and emptied of its inhabitants, the city of promises and political campaigns, today also lonely and orphaned, abandoned, waiting for someone to finally bring her back to life.

Martin indulged in his excessive use of drugs. He recorded his frenzied life in his diaries while his friend Ivo passionately captured everything on film with his Super 8 camera. Both sought for the absolute – average was not an option. Through the lens of this journal, Ivo Zen tells the story of his generation, a story about friendship and the desire to fly higher than anybody else.

In 1950 Jerome Hill went to Zurich with the intention of making a film about Dr. Carl G. Jung. The project was abandoned when Hill decided that Jung was not a good subject. After Hill's death, Jonas Mekas edited the film which focuses on Dr. Jung as a person.

Agadez in Niger has long been the starting point for people smugglers moving migrants through the desert to Libya. Under pressure from Europe, the Niger government has been trying to combat people smuggling, but the local economy offers few alternatives. Those who give up smuggling usually end up in gold mining. But it’s hard and dangerous work, and only a few make their fortunes.

Haunted by the death of her mother, a young woman drifting through Dakar crosses paths with a secretive sisterhood of soul-eating women — the dëmm — triggering a mysterious metamorphosis that forces her to confront loss and identity.

The "tavillonneur" or shingle-maker cuts out and fits shingles or wood tiles into place. Shingles (called "tavillons" in Switzerland), are one of the oldest methods of roofing or covering an outside wall. There are no longer any official apprenticeships. The film follows two shingle-makers, Joseph Doutaz and Olivier Veuve, who have very different techniques of cutting and placing their shingles. Joseph Doutaz uses only the traditional "tavillons" while Olivier Veuve works with these, as well as with "anseilles," larger and thicker wood tiles. We see both men at work in Winter and in Summer, and see some of their finished buildings.

Boutheyna Bouslama remembers her holidays in Syria in the summer of 1994: a boy offered her an armful of cherries. He was called Oussama. Twenty years later, his name appears in the credits of Return to Homs by Talal Derki, programmed in Istanbul. The childhood friend has become “the man with the camera”, a “media activist” documenting the demonstrations and their repression by the Assad regime, until his arrest in 2012. The filmmaker sets off in search of the man whose name features on the list of the 70,000 forced disappearances that have occurred since the beginning of the conflict.

A young art student from Switzerland arrives for six months in Tel Aviv. Through drawing he will learn to analyse, understand and open himself to this contrasted environment.

60 years ago, in the Algerian desert, an atomic bomb, equivalent to three or even four times Hiroshima, exploded. Named the “Blue Gerboise”, it was the first atomic bomb tested by France, and of hitherto unrivaled power. This 70 kiloton plutonium bomb was launched in the early morning, in the Reggane region, in southern Algeria, during the French colonial era. If this test allowed France to become the 4th nuclear power in the world, it had catastrophic repercussions. France had, at the time, certified that the radiation was well below the standard safety threshold. However, in 2013, declassified files revealed that the level of radioactivity had been much higher than announced, and had been recorded from West Africa to the south of Spain.

On a film set, there are always unforeseen events. Some days, it's all there is. And sometimes it's even worse.

Andreas, who is ten, has been brought up by his grandmother. When she dies, he removes a putto from the crucifix placed upon her, puts it in his mouth and does not speak again. The attempts by adults to make a normal child out of him only cause him to flee deeper into his fantasy world - a village of snow. At its center is a snowman with whom Andreas converses.

Documentary on Christian Schocher, director of the legendary «Reisender Krieger» (1980).

An old woman who is unaware that she is near death, falls in love with her son’s young American tutor.

Nick Lowe is a pivotal figure in UK pub rock, punk rock and new wave, Lowe has recorded a string of well-reviewed solo albums. He is best known for his songs "Cruel to Be Kind" (a US Top 40 single), and "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass" (a top 10 UK hit), as well as his production work with Elvis Costello, Graham Parker and others. Lowe also wrote "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding", a hit for Costello.

A group of Viking heroes go on an epic adventure, with multi-layered characters, action set-pieces, and visually stunning medieval landscapes.

January 1957, in a small town in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. A middle-class house, the home of two sisters, Clara and Thérèse, whose characters could not be more different. After their father is institutionalized, the two women take over the family business, which specializes in precision optics. One day, the floor of the music room collapses after being ravaged by termites. Karoly, a Hungarian refugeee and jack-of-all-trades, is hired to repair the damage. The Hungarian's presence causes ripples in the seemingly unchangeable life of the two sisters...

Part 6 of Godard's 8 part examination of the history of the concept of cinema and how it relates to the 20th century

Whether in rock, pop, rap or slam: the people of Bern have dominated the dialect music scene in German-speaking Switzerland for many years. Why does Bern rock Switzerland?

In his film, the Chilean film director accompanies Russian filmmaker Victor Kossakovsky during the shooting of his latest film. In Patagonia, at Lake Baikal and in Shanghai, Victor Kossakovsky explores the singular relationships between places and people on opposite sides of the world. Carlos Klein documents the making of this ambitious film in a very personal way, driven by his own inner search for images that still have an impact on us. While doing so, he reveals his own and Kossakovsky‘s ambiguous attitude towards filmmaking.

For the Balinese there are more important things than the accumulation of material wealth in one lifespan: They think it is better to lead their lives well and so acquire what they call Karma Pala. Good Karma ensures them rebirth into a new and potentially higher level of existence. The film looks at how the beliefs and occult ceremonies of these long bygone times have survived so well. The viewers witness some of the most mysterious rituals still to be found with one foot in the traditions of the past, the other firmly striding into the future.

Argentinian biology student Miro falls madly in love with young actress Mercedes, but is without a clue as to how to win her love. Then, a series of misunderstandings put him in the hot seat as a famous film director. Miro grabs his chance to shoot a film with Mercedes as his leading lady, hoping that she will fall for him. Whilst his plan is crazy, it is simple enough and Cupid is on his side. But Miro hasn't reckoned with film students Peter and Luigi who wish to shoot a “making-of” documentary of the great Argentinian “director”at work.

A set-up for an experiment in an empty room. Former inmates reconstruct an Israeli secret service interrogation centre. These Palestinian men use role play to come to terms with their memories and the humiliation they have experienced.

Swiss allotment gardener Livius is murdered in his garden on French soil. The case must therefore be investigated by both the Swiss and French police. This leads to friction between the two forces. To make matters worse, Hunkeler has to cut short his vacation.

Bob grows up as the son of an old punk and a flamboyant ex-girl. He forms rock bands and gradually grows up surrounded by his guitars, his friends, his girls, and his teenage troubles. Becoming a rock star who plays on the world's biggest stages and has girls chasing after him in droves—Bob dreams big and in Technicolor!

Noetic, Faun and Boléro: Three elements, three visions, three journeys through dance. Choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui's show offers a profound reflection on our intimate connection with the world around us. From putting mathematics in movement to Ravel's Boléro as a dance of death, Cherkaoui transcends the boundaries of the stage to offer us a unique philosophical perception of the world.

A young woman prepares breakfast for her lover, who has spent the night somewhere else after an argument.

Since the end of World War II, Switzerland has largely depended on immigrant workers from Southern Europe – first from Italy, then Spain and finally Portugal and the former Yugoslavia. Many of them were “seasonal workers”, a unique status in Europe and one that was particularly iniquitous. These workers were allowed to stay in Switzerland only nine months of the year and were obliged to return home for the other three months; they were not allowed to change jobs; they could not have their own accommodation but had to live in what was provided by their employers; they were not allowed to bring their spouses and children with them. Tens of thousands of people lived in sub-standard accomodation that was often dangerous and endured particularly tough work conditions, especially in construction, but also in agriculture and the hotel industry.

Switzerland is a real paradise for climbing as well as the country where Cédric Lachat was born and raised. With his unique sense of humor and unbridled enthusiasm, experience the beauty and wonder of five iconic peaks and mountain ranges: the Eiger, Gastlosen, Wendenstöcke, Lauterbrunnen and Rätikon. Early climbers talk about the evolution of gear and climbing over time.

A documentary about a proposed military training area in Rothenthurm, Central Switzerland, and the village's resistance to those plans.

A poor, rural Cambodian family slowly disintegrates during the cycle of a single rice crop.

A father is riding with his son through the forest. The sick child thinks he sees the Erlking, who both charms and frightens him. Based on Goethe's poem "Erlkönig" and the music of Franz Schubert and Franz Liszt.

Young Stella's sudden return from American boarding school and her fervent desire to return to the country house of her childhood is a welcome opportunity for her mother Maria and stepfather Carl to reconcile with their estranged daughter. But the unexpected appearance of Ben, the daughter's new, much older boyfriend, considerably disrupts the family's intimacy. The distant idyll becomes a nightmare and the scene of a brutal murder.

A rare, in-depth artistic journey into the work of internationally acclaimed Swiss architect Mario Botta. The film explores Botta's ever growing curiosity and reflections on the contractions of society through his sacred spaces, a subject very dear to him. Why does globalized society feel the urge to build such spaces? The directors traveled to China, South Korea, Israel, Italy, and Switzerland to discover a passionate and tireless artist, his buildings, and part of his creative process. Botta is one of the few architects who has built places of prayer for three main monotheistic religions. After building many churches, chapels, and synagogue, he is now working on a mosque in China. Through his thoughts and his interaction with artists, colleagues, clients, and family members, the viewers have a glimpse of the man behind the Architect.

Antonio, a 20-year-old young man, works on the assembly line at a bread factory and dreams of a future in Australia. One day, he meets Manuela, a blonde German au pair who is particularly enthusiastic about fast cars and fashionable clothes. Antonio does everything he can to win her over and ends up in conflict with the law. A story about being young in Switzerland in the 1980s, which remains inconsequential despite the controversial nature of the topics it addresses.

Everybody aspires to be a citizen of Perfect Town – but display a deficiency or a flaw and you will be stripped of your superior status and forced to the rear of the interminable line of those clamouring to get in.

In the intimacy of their rooms, Claude-Emmanuelle, Régina, and Nicole apply makeup in front of mirrors. Their precise, repetitive gestures become rituals of transformation and self-affirmation. Fragments of past, secret thoughts, and desires emerge through their voices. Interwoven with images of the city, the film links private experiences to the universal, exploring destinies that brush against each other without ever crossing paths.

Rokhaya, a young filmmaker, invites four friends to create a musical crime comedy together. This cheerful team then dreams up the quirky adventure of four rookie investigators working on the murder of two lovers. But who could have killed John and Lisa?

The Director Mohammed Soudani comes back to Algeria after 30 years with the photographer Michael von Graffenried to visit the Algerians he had photographed between 1991 and 2000 without them knowing it.

A grieving mother orders a robotic replica of her deceased son, who soon realizes the limits of his existence.

Neverland is a state of mind, a mountain pushed up from the ground by imagination. Anyone can go but most people have trouble with the simple directions: Follow your dreams. This winter Absinthe dropped down the rabbit hole to explore this elusive place and brought back some mind bending tales and a pocketful of surprises.

After a landslide in the Axenstrasse, geologist Mara Graf and her boyfriend, seismologist Gian Wyss, are investigating for the Seismological Service of the University of Technology in Switzerland. For Gian this is a good opportunity to spend some weeks of Spring at home. For Mara to be with her grandmother and sister. The next day Mara Gian want to anchor indicators at the bottom of Lake Lucerne in a dive. They decide to dive alone. Before Mara could follow him, an explosion rocked their ship.

Ruth lives a peaceful life in her meticulously decorated apartment. Until the day a mysterious package arrives...

Jonathan Katz strongly believes that candidate Bernie Sanders is the only hope for the United States of America threatened by Donald Trump. Sanders is a voice outside the establishment and has put new values and priorities into his political agenda. Pushed forward by his enthusiasm, Jonathan joins the thousands of women and men that rally around the caucuses supporting Senator Sanders.

The 90-year-old mystery writer Lydia Walliser is suffering from writer’s block. Although she presents herself to the public as witty and cosmopolitan, her family bears the brunt of her more abhorrent traits. For Nick, her grandson whom she grudgingly accommodates for the weekend, it means: no mobile phone, no TV, no noise. Nick fears that these might be the worst days of his life. But then he notices strange things happening at the house next door and may have even witnessed a murder. When he and his grandmother begin to investigate, they embark on the adventure of the lives.

A group of Siberian farmers seek refuge in the American Embassy in Moscow because they are being persecuted in the Soviet Union due to their religious beliefs. For political reasons, the ambassador wants to send the people away, which comes to the attention of the cardinal and archbishop of Mohilew, who has also been staying at the embassy for years. When he wants to accompany them at the risk of his life, a confrontation ensues with the ambassador, who wants to prevent this.

From a cramped Mumbai storefront, Khatoon leads Mumbai's first women-led Islamic court. Amidst heated arguments and raw testimony, these female judges settle cases of domestic conflict, reclaiming religious law from male dominance to offer a new path toward grassroots justice.

Faust, an old, bright but desperate man, struggles with the sense of his life. After trying all kinds of sciences he enters into a contract with the devil, Mephistopheles, to feel life, joy and desire again. Mephistopheles promises him to get full satisfaction by enjoying and celebrating all the worldly pleasures: outstanding parties, being young again, the love of a woman. To fulfill the pact, Faust offers him his soul after his death. Their journey begins and leaves many people in total despair...

A little girl meets a guy on a deserted beach and plays with him.

An old man boards a cable car and heads up the mountain. Along the way he takes some snuff, sneezes, and things start to fall apart... literally. Good thing he has some tape.

Three generations of women rebel against patriarchal prohibitions.

Dynamic Wisdom is a housing collective that exists since 2017. It brings together 16 people from Nigeria and 4 people born in Switzerland who have pooled their energy to respond to an emergency situation: sleeping on the street.