Discoveries from Switzerland World Cinema

The movie shows how a man eats different meals barbarically and how this ends in a disaster.

Barbara, a fifty-year-old lesbian whose lifespan has taken her through correction homes, mental hospitals, prisons and bouts of prostitution, approached Bruno Moll suggesting that she made a film of her life. Moll agrees and hires an actress, Serena Way. To interpret episodes in Barbara’s past. Barbara has in mind a Hollywood-style bio starring an actress on the order of Susan Hayward dramatically telling her story of a life ruined by bourgeois standards. The result is a semi-documentary mixing black and white segments of Barbara and Serena discussing the project with color scenes depicting little stories from the 1950’s, the heyday of bourgeois existence.

Nathan was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Now he's better, before he was much worse. He films himself, his relatives at the hospital, his bipolar best friend, his father, his sister, his mother and his love between 2011 and 2018. For him, everyone is a "loulou", in his own way. It is thanks to them that he finally begins to become a man instead of a madman.

A documentary comprising a thirteen 360° panning shots that gradually reveal the environments and conditions in which wood is transported from Austria to Brazil.

Two lovers are so passionately in love that they have done something unforgivable and killed the jealous husband.

Experimental short film made by Hans-Jacob Siber in which certain dramatic aspects of this filmmaker's way of making films are revealed.

Post office manager Ruth is good-natured. Unfortunately, her friend Karolin takes advantage of her. One day, Karolin upsets Ruth so much that she violates postal secrecy: she opens the rejection letter that Karolin sends to one of her admirers and writes back in Karolin's name.

Eddie, the grave digger, is haunted by the ghosts appearing on the walls in his home. the ghosts want revenge. Eddie didn't bury them well. So they tease, follow and scare him to death.

Favela Olímpica unfolds in Rio de Janeiro on both sides of the wall separating the new Olympic Stadium and the favéla Vila Autódromo. Nothing prevents the co-existence of these two worlds but some judge them "incompatible" including Rio's mayor. His wish to reclaim these area reserved for Rio's poor since the 1990 sets off a lopsided power struggle as people with little means fight to keep their home. Meanwhile, the Opening Ceremony approaches . . .

Cab driver Hugo Meier is married to two women and lives at two addresses. He therefore lives according to a precise timetable. This has worked well so far. However, Hugo has an accident and can't get home. The two worried wives contact their police stations and ask for help. Two officers immediately do their duty and investigate. Hugo is now in dire need of help. With the not entirely voluntary help of his friend and neighbor Oskar Stöckli, Hugo leads the officers and the wives into a labyrinth of fantastic excuses and ludicrous lies. Harmless wives are transformed into hysterical bitches and well-meaning friends into hot-blooded, gay seducers.

A humorous examination of the concept of home, based on the dual definition of the word "habitat".

On the occasion of Euro 2008, with the aim of further increasing her notoriety and, above all, in the hope of coming into contact with handsome, muscular athletes, Marie-Thérèse Porchet decided to become the official mascot of the event. To support her candidacy, she conducted extensive research into all aspects of the game. Disappointed that she was ultimately not selected, she decided to do everything in her power to ensure that the Swiss team won the competition. A tall order...

Drama represented by the arrest of Jafar Panahi... until he is freed. Freedom for Jafar Panahi, and all imprisoned Iranian filmmakers.

Every year, the Camino de Santiago attracts countless people on a journey of self-discovery. Some seek relaxation, others adventure or a spiritual experience. At a certain point, the paths of these people cross. The documentary film Camino de Santiago shows that the Way of St. James is about much more than a pilgrimage. Amid beautiful landscapes, culinary experiences, and lots of music, worlds collide and new friendships are formed.

This cinematic feature documentary honors the man, thinker, author, and painter Friedrich Dürrenmatt with an intimate memorial.

A work of visual art that borrows from music the principles of the fugue, with the sudden flight of a man to his hotel room as its main theme. Where he dreams.

Young migrants from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Serbia and Venezuela attend a Swiss integration class where they learn a new language and prepare for employment.

In the tradition of ETRE ET AVOIR and some of THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL Fifty children of mountain farmers, six miles of walking to school, a childhood in the heart of Switzerland.

A poetic but also wryly humorous study of the selfish artist trying to play the indifferent God, but ending up revealing himself as all too human.

A Swiss couple is expecting a child through surrogacy in Georgia. When doubts about their baby's health arise, they face a difficult moral decision.

For a month, filmmaker Dieter Gränicher lives in an institution, in the village community of the deaf. As an attentive and increasingly familiar observer, he gets closer and closer to the village's inhabitants, who often suffer from a variety of handicaps, as they go about their daily lives. The film tells the story of the nuances and vivacity of sign language. It portrays human beings who, with great expressive power, overcome the limitations imposed on them by their disability, deeply touching the person opposite.

The Swiss Intenational Solidarity Association "Idées’Elles" and the Not for Profit Mali organization "Prométhée" are working together on the realisation of a sustainable development project. The project supports the business activities of women’s rural associations in the region of Mopti, in Mali, by providing microcredits. These are small sums of money lent to people from the disadvantaged classes in developing countries in order to create micro-businesses. After a year’s experience, the film, which was shot in the summer of 2003, reports on the use of these microcredits by showing the women’s activities (breeding, market gardening, fishing...) and follows Lalia, a member of the Not For Profit organisation "Prométhée" and president of "Debo Association".

A voyeur observes a murder.

In a mining town in northern Sweden, four young rappers fight to save their recording studio, threatened by unstable ground. Their struggle represents a generation facing a fragmented and lacerated world.

It's the first day of spring: Numerous couples come to visit the old photo booth in the park. While capturing memories, they don't hesitate to kiss wildly, eat and sing inside the booth. What nobody knows: Behind the mirrored glass, the Photo Booth Lady lives and works taking photos. She is increasingly annoyed by the tedious visitors and the day doesn't seem to end.

For Varinia Canto Vila (Brussels)

Stephan Wicki - Istvan Scheibler

Sami has successfully integrated into Switzerland with his restaurant “Pittaria” and experiences a sense of belonging that he missed in Israel as part of the Palestinian minority. Nevertheless, he is characterized by a longing for his country of origin and is confronted with an inner conflict. The film tells the story of Sami's journey through two homelands to find himself.

The „Haelgung“ films are charmingly impressionistic diary entries, crafted as mini homages to my closest friends, captured with a delightful lack of planning or structure and edited in camera.

After the creators/masterminds of the company DARK DIMESIONS noticed that they had opened a lucrative business through their snuff and torture videos disguised as normal horror films, the murder really began. Even high politicians and influential mafios came back to their services of making people disappear. But chance wants it that among those who have been killed by them are the daughter of a mafia running boy and the son of a policeman and those affected do not want to leave this unpunished...

The day begins. Characters live their lives, animals theirs, a gentleman takes off his hat, a lady smokes a cigarette and the sun sets.

Priest André is devoted to his job, which he always does with gusto. Just like his secret passion. But what has happened to make him suddenly look so demoralised? By dealing with a penitent unlike any other, André Martial will eventually be guided towards a solution to his problem.

Who is Walter Caps? Photography enthusiasts know him as the father of Minox, the first miniature camera invented in 1935.

When Celestine learns from her big sisters that she was bought from an orphanage, her way of seeing things dramatically changes.

A passionate puppet-maker and his sick son live in a remote house. The boy can hardly sleep because he is afraid of the King in Black. The father is convinced that these are just fever dreams – until locked doors suddenly burst open.

A small village is terrorized by a masked killer, leaving a trail of blood in his wake. His chainsaw helps him do the job.

Three choreographers at the beginning of their careers selected for the first edition of the LAC Lugano Dance Project festival.

A portrait of David Rouiller, a young Swiss man who joined the Kurdish freedom movement PKK five years ago. Rouiller, the son of a university Professor and a former President of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, gave up a comfortable and safe existence in Switzerland, and the amenities of a western lifestyle, to commit his life and strength to the ideals of the Kurdish freedom fight. Is he an adventurer, a dreamer, an idealist, a hero? Is his commitment visionary or illusory?

A view of the Mont-Blanc bridge in Geneva.

Fifth part of a series documenting the Basel carnival.

8mm film by Swiss artist Roman Signer.

The Balkan war of the 1990s was the cause of the disappearance of thousands of people. Their mortal remains are in danger of remaining lost forever. Bereaved families and survivors place their hopes in excavations and in the work of science.

PUSHING BOUNDARIES was one of the slogans of the Paralympics in Russian Sochi. During the games, this slogan was applied militarily by the Russian army towards the neighboring Ukraine. Overnight the Ukrainian National Team lost access to their training base in Crimea. The film accompanies 5 athletes with disabilities who try to adapt their private and professional lives to the circumstances and attempt the Paralympics qualification. After the competitions, where all the teams are celebrated as 'super-humane', they return to a tired society where new invalids are produced by the war.

At a party teeming with young artists and bon vivants, the everyday, and yet the extraordinary, is happening. On their quest to experience love and life, they talk carelessly, risking everything, and dance on in the neon lights of the night.

A criminal couple has committed the perfect murder. But four famous detectives are hot on their trail. Master parodist Walter Andreas Müller shines in succession as Inspector Columbo, Sergeant Studer, Hercule Poirot, and Miss Marple.

Documentary short film.

Documentary about education of paralysed children.

Young archaeologist Nina never imagined that finding a medieval object in a reed bed in the Obwalden municipality of Giswil would turn her life upside down. And Baggel-Rot, Brandi-Guchs, Bichel-Botsch, Buggel-Wyyss, and Mattli-Latz would never have dreamed that it would end like this, back in Torenberg's time, when they set out on Good Friday night in 1381 to save Obwalden's honor and teach the Entlebuchers a lesson.

Worried about the health of his grandmother who doesn't recognise him anymore, Antoine pays her a visit to attempt to bring her memory back.

Madness play a set at the Baloise Sessions, live In Basel.

Jan Czarlewski's father is a Polish hero and diplomat who puts his heart into his work and barely pays attention to his son. "He has dedicated his whole life to his country, but he never had any time for me," says Czarlewski. In an attempt to make up for lost time, he decides to visit his dad in Brussels, where Czarlewski senior works as a diplomat.