Discoveries from Switzerland World Cinema

Mapo's experiences on the Camino de Santiago, or St. James Way. On this legendary route, he will pass through villages and meet other pilgrims who, like him, are seeking new experiences and emotions.

A fish dies. A man moves through the trees. Strange things are happening in the forest.

‘You have no choice about being here, you’ll have no choice about when you leave’ proclaims a woman in Xiaolu Guo’s latest film, a documentary about the personal and physical journeys of the people of London’s East End. Herself an immigrant to the area, Guo’s sensitive character studies hint at an affinity with the push and pull of feelings of alienation, a theme she has previously explored as a filmmaker (She a Chinese, LFF 2009) and novelist (A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers). This empathy is also apparent in her playful stylistic approach that layers Warhol-esque news reports, archival material and a soundtrack including Linton Kwesi Johnson and Fela Kuti, to comment on the human cost of capitalism. The resulting film is both a penetrating portrait of a frenetic place that feels deeply authentic, and a powerful piece of protest film.

Pianist Alena Cherny has been living in Switzerland for 15 years. She has a dream: she wants to donate a grand piano to the music school of her Ukrainian hometown. The grand piano's journey becomes a moving search for clues in the places of her childhood and youth. Alena Cherny lets us take part in the many farewells, new beginnings, catastrophes and contrasts that she experienced. A film about the migration of a strong woman; full of sorrow, anger, enthusiasm, and love.

A dangerous psychopath turns a psychiatric examination into his own version of a famous TV gameshow.

It's Gaël's last evening in Lausanne before his departure abroad. He is spending it with his group of friends, whom he'll be leaving in the morning. But as the evening progresses, he realizes that his friends are behaving strangely. Unfortunately, it's already too late.

A crossed portrait of two transgender women working on their voices to make it sound more feminine and to match the new person they have become. One of them is 67-year-old Bernie Wagenblast, one of New York’s most famous voices. She is one of the male subway voices, heard by millions of commuters every day. She feels comfortable with both her voices. The other character is 25-year-old Jade Stephan, who feels that her “old voice is something that she treasures as a thing she will not be bringing out for company”. She is currently seeing a voice therapist to help her work on her voice. This film explores their relationship to their voices and how voices can be a factor in integration into society.

In the 1970s, the GREINA, which connects Graubünden with Ticino, became famous throughout Switzerland. The architect and artist Bryan Cyril Thurston campaigned for 20 years with his art against a reservoir on this magnificent plateau. At the time, his saying "only poetry can save the Greina" seemed rather abstruse to his son. But today he finds an unexpected strength in it. Everyone wants beauty!

A young woman living in a bustling metropolis has recently started a long-distance relationship. She feels lost and alone in her new situation, her emotions swinging between melancholy, frustration, hope and excitement.

Switzerland in the 1950s: Electricity consumption is rising steadily. Two officials are commissioned by the city to convince the inhabitants of the Gettlichtal to leave voluntarily so that dams and reservoirs can be built. But the mountain farmer Marie, who has spent her entire life here, finds it difficult to leave the valley.

The revealing life story of Güli Dogan conveys impressively and in exemplary pictures the long and difficult path of a successful integration. Between the Worlds is the portrait of a woman who is very well integrated professionally and socially in Switzerland, but who is emotionally strongly connected to her village, which hardly exists anymore.

An African asylum-seeker dies while being held at a deportation centre. His mother goes to Switzerland to bring his body home and to find out how he died. However, despite the help of a human rights organization, she fails to get any answers until a politician unexpectedly contacts her and agrees to meet her...

With an IQ of 149+, 13-year old Maximilian Janisch is Switzerlands most famous highly gifted child. After passing the final secondary-school examinations in Mathematics at just 9 years old, Maximilian has jumped forward 3 grades and is now attending Mathematical courses at University level. The film follows Maximilian and his parents through their high energy daily life and reflects on what it means to be a child prodigy.

This film reports on our first season in professional drifting around the world.

In the middle of a luxuriant garden, a teeny-weeny fox meets a daring little girl who grows giant plants! By lucky coincidence, they realize that they can grow objects too; the clever little devils think up all sorts of things to do…

The Baselstrasse is a street in Lucerne. People call it "Rue de Blamage" – it's a noisy street tucked into a narrow space between a hill and a train track. The people who live here don't usually mingle with the rich and famous, but even the roughest haunt can be a home to those who live and work there – and Baselstrasse's two kilometers of asphalt are no different.

After an alien life form visited planet earth our fate was sealed. Two years later one of the last survivors is desperately trying to find out if there's still anyone out there. Haunted by the past he doesn't seem to see the obvious when he finds a boy in an abandoned house.

Marc Burth wants to find the best religion to raise his children in, but living in a family that boasts a Muslim, a Catholic, a Jew, a Shaman and several Atheists that's not going to be easy. This highly amusing and revelatory HD documentary playfully addresses the questions so many of us struggle with.

Herbert, an established businessman, Karlmann, the distinguished son of upper-class parents, and Albert, a sturdy sailor, overcame all social barriers to live out their passion for tattoos together. At a time when tattoos were ostracized and frowned upon, when tattooed people were considered outsiders and criminals. At first glance, the three appear to be middle-class older men in their 90s, but as soon as they take off their shirts, many parchment-like images are revealed on their skin, telling the stories of their lives in snapshots.

We follows Martha Argherich through her life and concerts. Exists in 52' and in 80'.

Growing up in silence, a 14-year-old deaf refugee has never known school, writing, or spoken language. In Switzerland, an interpreter discovers him and opens the door to a language school in Zurich. There, he encounters sign language for the very first time – unlocking communication, identity, and a sense of belonging. Based on a true story, Language is Life is a powerful testimony to how language can restore not only words, but an entire life.

Part of FIFF's section "Une Histoire de Fribourg : Terre de hockey sur glace"

There is a house in the mountains of Graubünden. The mother is dead, the daughter arrives, then the granddaughter. They want to clear out the house—but inside, they sense the presence of the dead woman's secret companions. In addition to a silent hunter and an intrusive chiropodist, another figure seems to have found its place in the woman's life, telling her story from heaven: "S'Tuntschi vo Juf," the doll that came to life from the mountain legend of "Sennentuntschi."

After marrying her wife in Switzerland, Chinese filmmaker Yue returns home to confront the quiet fractures between her and her mother. Across generations, two women begin to speak—about marriage, gender, and everything they’ve kept silent.

Argentinian virtuoso pianist Martha Argerich and cellist Mischa Maisky reunite for an exclusive concert, celebrating 50 years of an exceptional duo. The programme includes Beethoven, Chopin and Schumann.

Three roommates go through a night marked by the abortion of one of them.

Fated to live in a radical state of isolation in the paradise lost called Nueva Germania, the two surviving descendants of the Aryan colony founded by Friedrich Nietzsche's sister in the Paraguayan jungle have their ultimate destiny revealed to them. A three-part film released between 2018-2024.

This groundbreaking film features trauma survivors, clinicians, and traditional healers from Rwanda, Kenya, Afghanistan, and Ukraine. It explores post-traumatic stress and healing across cultures. The film highlights that trauma cannot be healed without listening to survivors' lived experiences. Their voices carry both known and unknown knowledge, emphasizing the necessity for active participation in their treatment. Filmmaker Celestin Mutuyimana created and produced this film during his early-career fellowship at the Collegium Helveticum 2023–2024.

after 20 years at the crusades a knight come back home

The filmmaker follows Swiss entrepreneur Noah Fischer on a journey to Argentina to explore the process of making mate tea and how it eventually finds its way to Switzerland.

Conceived as a film about tourism, war and sunsets, The Birds Chose the Cards pushes Egyptian artist Basim Magdy into new territory. Shot post-pandemic on lush 16mm, his observational collage eschews science fiction elements from previous works to foreground an emotionally resonant first-person narration centering speculations on history, identity and place – accented by a propulsive soundscape bubbling with warmth and dissonance.

Recorded and filmed in my room, in that order.

Birthday boy Julian has holed up in the living room with his headphones and video game and doesn't hear that Grandma and Grandpa are standing at the door. But Grandma doesn't give up so easily and rallies the residents of the high-rise building. Together, they manage to launch a red balloon. The balloon is passed from balcony to balcony, from resident to resident, until it reaches Julian on the 19th floor.

script under wraps.

Meteorologists and scientists from Europe are looking for a year-round weather observation station at high altitude and decide on the Säntis mountain in 1879.

One house, ten patients, forty employees and death. In the Hospice of Central Switzerland, exceptional situations meet everyday life, spirituality meets rationality and individualism meets institutional mechanisms. The film gently encounters an uncomplicated and intimate approach to dying.

The film deals with the fateful experiences of Czech refugees in Switzerland.

On the move, along the roads of the Ecuadorian Andes, we are transported to random moments in everyday life. Without appropriating what we observe, we continue the journey.

Le Lignon: a long building with two towers, below it the Rhone River and its forest, habitat to many birds. Two microcosms that influence and inspire each other. From their windows, the inhabitants watch the woods. What do they see? The film shows the human need for closeness to the animals that surround us, and the ambivalent relationship between humans and nature.

The “king” secretly dreams of showing his ass to his subjects, and they do just that. Dominant and dominated share the same fantasy of social rites. A carnivalesque temptation whose hallmark is not to touch the reality of social relations, but only to play on their reversal.

A profile of two ambulance drivers in Geneva over 300 days during the COVID-19 pandemic

Filmmaker Sevastian Kanarskyi asked his aunt to write a text about dreaming.

Documentary on the first photograph in history, taken by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce.

Makita is a witch, flying around on her broom. Through a game of mirrors, the Witch is reflected on the walls and ground. This multiplication of reflections is increased in the installation which recaptures the structure of the decor.

A military horse show in Basel.

8mm film by Swiss artist Roman Signer.

8mm film by Swiss artist Roman Signer.

8mm film by Swiss artist Roman Signer.

8mm film by Swiss artist Roman Signer.

Eva grieves over her lost love. She is surprised by the ghost of her sister who consoles her by taking her into a wild rêverie, in the middle of desertic and industrial landscapes. Eva regains consciousness on a railroad bridge, when she suddenly hears the humming of a train.