Discoveries from Switzerland World Cinema

A story of diaspora. The film criticises the myth of Swiss neutrality, which violently masks structural, systemic, and social passivity.

Portraits of some Swiss men and women, who fought between 1936 and 1938 in the International Brigades to defend the Spanish Republic against the putsch of General Franco.

Polo is supposed to transport a suitcase full of jewels across the border as a courier—a job he has done a thousand times before. But this time, something goes wrong. Other crooks are hot on Polo's heels. He is kidnapped and forced to hand over the suitcase. In the end, Polo lies on the ground, bleeding to death. Finally, he has time to think about what he did wrong. Hoping to find the reasons for his failure, he reviews the story once again.

After his mother is rushed to the hospital, her young son Moritz finds a new home with a gay couple in the neighborhood.

Monsieur Brucco is an Albanian working for 20 years in the same Swiss company. He has previously been told to have supposedly French roots, so he is trying hard to be as French as in any way possible. One day he cuts his long finger and is certified permanently unfit for work by Doctor Schweizer who is the father of Anneli, Brucco's secret crush. As Brucco is reluctant to accept the life of an early-retiree he is contemplating a career change. So he finally becomes a door-to-door salesman for toys. After a mix-up he also becomes the target of the local mafia.

Eddie Fischer is in a clinic to lose weight. For five days he is given nothing but lemon juice and mineral water. But on the sixth day he is supposed to be given yoghurt and crispbread, but just as he is making his emergency calls, the criminal Charlie Krumm enters and threatens Eddie Fischer, as he himself is not on a completely legal path. Eddie Fischer has no choice but to grant the criminal asylum. But when the police arrive, it turns into chaos and the two of them have to come up with a few ideas to avoid being found out.

In unspectacular everyday scenes we observe three groups, their dynamics and moods over the course of a day.

The shooting of this peasant chronicle in the Gruyère region of Switzerland lasted a whole year, from July 1989 to July 1990.

During the usual drinking-out evening 2 friends are having a hard time remembering what their chat is about.

Tonight, Naomi’s long-term partner reveals to her that he will return to monogamy with one of his recent connections. Confronted with the harsher realities of non-monogamy, Naomi heads out onto the streets of Amsterdam for a night of diverse intimacies, to remember why it is that she committed to this kind of relationship structure in the first place.

They were Tamil Tiger combatants, civil victims of attacks, or displaced persons. Five women from the feuding groups – the Tamils, Sinhalese, and the Muslims – look back. Two of the former Tiger-soldiers now live in Switzerland.

The debut performance of Cory Wong at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2023.

1997, a shooting range, somewhere in Switzerland. Fog hangs over the fields; winter is already here. Lukas, sixteen, Simone, seventeen, and Urs, their uncle and adoptive father, are training for the upcoming competition. The psychological and physical narrowness of the living space, the constant pressure of competition, the handling of life-threatening weapons, and a dark secret from the past create an oppressive and charged atmosphere. Simone gives her brother a surprising chance for revenge. Should he take it?

Following Bosnia and Herzegovina’s declaration of independence in April 1992, Bosnian Serb troops besieged and bombed Sarajevo. Over a period of four years, five young filmmakers documented the bombardments and daily life during the siege—for some, the aim was simply to report the news; for others, it was a way of dealing with their fears.

8mm film by Swiss artist Roman Signer.

When Masahiro returns to his hometown of Tokyo with his wife, he's suddenly plagued by inexplicable feelings of guilt and nightmares from a time long past. Then a mysterious man advises him to perform an eerie ritual in the infamous Aokigahara forest. For Masahiro, a dramatic journey into the past begins, to his innermost spiritual abysses.

Allah is an aggressive and formally rich collage of everyday set pieces that Renzo Schraner has assembled into a personal rebellion. Allah is the only film by Renzo Schraner that has ever been shown in public.

Facing the consequences of a violent uprooting, Mateo Sobode Chiqueno has been recording stories, songs, and testimonies of his Ayoreo people since the seventies. In an attempt to preserve fragments of a disappearing culture, Mateo walks across communities in the arid and desolate Paraguayan Chaco region, and registers on cassettes the experiences of other Ayoreo who, like him, were born in the vast forest, free and nomadic, without any contact with white civilization, until religious missionaries forced them to abandon their ancestral territory, their means of subsistence, their beliefs and their home.

The very first independent film by animator Georges Schwizgebel, which was made in 1969 as an episode in the anthology film "Patchwork". Along with Schwizgebel, "Patchwork" included the talents of filmmakers Claude Luyet, Daniel Suter, Gerald Poussin and Manuel Otero. "Pirouette" combines a simple drawing of a figure with photographs, cut-outs from magazines and samples of cloth. A prominent motif of this collage mix is a drawn male face slightly inspired by pop-art.

In Zurich, a dealer named Mike, who is also dependent, buys a mysterious dagger in a back yard. He has no idea that it is a victim tool of a Nazi sect. That's why his girlfriend is kidnapped and brutally tortured by the Nazis shortly afterwards. But Mike wants revenge...

Two siblings in a war, try to escape the brutal reality by making up a comic world.

Antonionis L’Eclisse as a room installation. The camera, mounted on a model railroad, passes through a dark landscape of screens. The images, showing Monica Vitti, all sprawling into the room and on the surfaces, undermining illusionist effects in this “cinema hall”. Originally made for the Locarno Film Festival's Movie of My Life competition.

A daytime fantasy featuring earth nymphs, this short video work is an adapted version of Rist's installation "I Couldn't Agree With You More" for screening purposes, and to watch lying down on your left side or turning monitor 90 degrees.

The film Autoportrait is made up of four parts: Part 1: Search, Part 2: Work, Part 3: Daydream, Part 4: Family. Each of the parts can be shown as a self-contained film.

May 68 in Paris filmed by Alain Tanner, then director for Swiss Television. Images of Nanterre (92), the Sorbonne (Paris 5e), and the theater of the Odeon (Paris 6th), meetings, speeches and events, are accompanied by a commentary that recounts the events of the month of may.

"Film shots and sound recordings over the course of one month in a remote mountain village in Liguria. I do not work with the illusion of the synchronisation of image and sound, but with the idea that these 2 dimensions do exist as realities independent of each other, and as such do in fact emerge in our consciousness. The world in Villatalla is not showcased but simply lived. The few remaining inhabitants pursue the few remaining work. Social life happens in a beautiful slowness of the present." Jeannette Muñoz.

One night, an actor prepares to go on stage while a museum guard makes her rounds. The two gradually immerse themselves in these dormant institutions, on the fringes of shows and exhibitions.

Several teenagers following a professional apprenticeship. Eleven young girls and boys from different parts of French-speaking Switzerland.

The fascinating story behind the Geneva Initiative, a peace plan for the Middle East. Set up by a group of seven very different individuals – three Israelis, three Palestinians and one Swiss – united by their dedication to achieve peace in the Middle East, the Geneva Initiative was officially launched in December 2003 on the shores of Lake Geneva.

For three years, Mehran Tamadon immersed himself into the very heart of the most extremist supporters of the Islamic republic of Iran (the Bassidjis) to understand their ideas.

'Rabbit Girl' is the story of a young bookseller with a double life: she sells books during the day and has a burlesque rabbit show in the evenings. Her love story with the delivery boy is at risk when he suddenly appears at one of her shows.

Kalari is enthralling young women in India. As the world’s oldest martial art, it is becoming increasingly significant in a society where violence against women is both historical and a daily reality. The film follows four young Indian women on their journey towards self-empowerment.

Since the end of the 1980s, many dancers have left Senegal to find a better life in Europe. A majority of them are men, but a few women like Hélène also manage to hold their own and pursue their careers on this side of the Mediterranean. In words and movements, Hélène recounts her experience of migration, and conveys her irrepressible need to dance.

The story of old farmer Grutz, who is considered a stubborn and unsociable man due to his unfriendly nature. His daughter Christine, a proud young woman, mocks young Hans, who asks for her hand in marriage, because of his humble origins. Later, she realizes her mistake, but Hans turns away from her. Meanwhile, Grutz suffers a serious injury while working in the fields and prepares for the end. But contrary to all expectations, he recovers and reconciles with his land, as well as with Hans and Christine.

The Italian “refugee island” of Lampedusa is in the firm grip of winters tristesse. Tourists have left, the remaining refugees fight to be taken to the mainland. As a fire destroys the worn down ferry, that connects the island to Italy, the mayor Giusi Nicolini and the local fishermen struggle for a new ship. The tiny community at the edge of Europe is engaged in a desperate struggle for solidarity with those who many consider the cause of the ongoing crisis: the African boat people.

A History of Darkness summons the figures of Nero, Dante, the Marquis de Sade and Ludwig II in the intoxication of their obsessions, between ecstasy and damnation, fascination and repulsion. A family portrait teetering on the edge of the abyss.

In the Twenties a young and solitary alchemist dedicates his existence to collecting and experimenting with botanical species… and nymphs. But something is still missing in this collection, something that could even destroy it.

Hand-edited Lomokino 35mm footage captures scenes from an island, blending shifting textures with guitars and watery drones. A visual and sonic meditation on place and transience.

Helmet, a young queer looking for intimacy is obsessed by a cruising spot located around the parking Rent a car Relax. He's hanging around there days and nights, but intimidated by his desire, he connects clumsiness and provocations towards the place's keeper: calling and hanging up on her, stealing from the lost and found box, spying... One night, a fight between two cruisers occurs in one of the cars and the guard intervenes. Helmet comes to help her.

Record of the life of the Peulh Bororo people who live a nomadic life between the Sahara and the Niger River.

It was supposed to be a cozy poker night among men in Benni's dingy apartment. One person is still missing from the group, namely Albert, when suddenly a call comes in from his wife. She has kicked her husband out of the apartment, can no longer stand his hypochondria and perfectionism, and wants a divorce. Benni relents and takes his dejected friend in when he finally joins the poker game.

In his classroom a philosophy teacher opens the discussion on the place of religion in society. Out of his course he faces the realities of the street.

Heini Schoch becomes a millionaire on his birthday of all days. He mistakes his briefcase for a completely identical item. With one tiny difference: the other suitcase is stuffed with bundles of money. This money can only come from a scam, Heini concludes in a flash, nobody carries that much cash around with them. So there is very little chance that the police will be called. Heini tells his confused wife Hedy to pack her bags. They are to take the next plane out of the country so that the crooks don't find out about them. But Heini has rejoiced too soon: suddenly the police knock on the door and ask lots of "stupid" questions. Luckily, Heini's loyal friend Viktor is there to help - albeit very reluctantly. In order to distract the police, the two of them build a huge house of lies. Eventually it all comes crashing down.

Visiting examples of Herzog and de Meurons ground-breaking style, this film reflects their capacity to astonish and explore the way in which they transform what might otherwise be ordinary through new treatments and techniques.

3 amateur burglars steal the "Book of Wurzelfurz" which is said to bring the dead back to life. When one of them gets killed in a firefight with the police, the other two use the book to bring him back from the dead. Their plan works but the re-animated friend turns into a rabid monster, hungry for human flesh. Soon, all hell breaks lose and the "Brunstelwald" is swarming again with the undead...

LOOKING LIKE MY MOTHER is a film about family relationships and personal destiny, about realizing one's own potential and one's limitations. It traces the individual experience, showing the emptiness one can feel as well as the discovery of a sense of meaning in life. It is a very personal and courageous film that doesn’t search for scientific explanations but instead uses documentary and fictional material to weave an intimate biography. This combination of perception and memory suggests a deep reconciliation and allows tender feelings of a mother’s love to emerge.

A small town nestling in the middle of a snowy expanse. In a crowded hall, some musicians are warming up. Cacophony. The conductor calls for silence. On a river bank at dawn, an old man is fishing alone, alert. Nearby, a band of Indians are marching to music for the carnival. A young hunter stalks her prey on the edge of a forest, while in his bedroom, a teenager struggles with his tie to the deafening sound of symphonic heavy metal rock. Between community and moments of solitude, through a series of lively Friday evening rehearsals and the interminable republican ceremonies, L'harmonie takes us to the heart of this colorful community in search of harmony.

Claude Lebet, luthier, had originally wanted to be a parson, like his father before him. However, after one year in theological school, he left to study violin making in Cremona, Italy. Later, he returned to Switzerland, where he founded his workshop at La Chaux-de-Fonds in the Jura mountains. The "Musici di Roma" launched his career by buying the first violin he made, then helping him acquire his house. For Lebet, a violin takes a month and a half to make, and requires the smoothest maple and spruce, which he selects himself, along with the finest shellacs. In the film, we watch as he makes a violin for a musician who comes to try it out and to choose from various woods. It takes but six weeks for Lebet to fashion the violin, but the relationship of musician and luthier lasts a lifetime.

Christine (Christine Lauterburg) is fed up with her uptight boyfriend Max (Max Rüdlinger) and his grumpy roommates, so she decides to spend the summer in Umbria with her friend Olga. While Olga is buried in her translation work, Christine goes out on the town with Olga’s cousin. He has made a lucrative business out of trading ceramics and zips around in a sleek Alfa Romeo.

How do you cope if things turn out differently than you'd imagined? Helena (19) and Jonas (11) are people in great need of support, putting their parents, families, schools and society to the test. The film breaks down the wall that separates them from our world, shows how language and community develop - and asks the question of who we are.

The film is a journey around the world where we meet people who are frozen in fear, people who search for them, who find them, who love them. Along the way we meet experts in neuroscience, psychology and politics who show us how society is controlled by messages of fear. The film analyzes the universal question of what fear is and why we are so afraid of it.