Discoveries from Switzerland World Cinema

A short dance film by Gitta Gsell.

Parov Stelar didn't just create electro-swing, he elevated it to an art form. For 20 years, the Austrian producer and designer has been combining the vintage charm of the 1920s with contemporary rhythms. His rich sound and energetic stage presence are perfectly suited to the intimate atmosphere of the Baloise Session.

Elena is a foreign woman who wanders the streets of Geneva every night looking for company. The mediocrity of the men she seduces only exacerbates her murderous impulses. Until a random encounter gives her a moment of relief.

After witnessing a tragic event unfold at school, Sarah frantically recounts her story on the phone to her friend through a series of flashbacks.

During a long car ride, nine-year-old Timo escapes his parents’ bickering by creating a fantasy world in the passing landscape. A spaceman and T. rex battle across the skies and rolling hills, taking Timo along with them.

Aisha McAdams, a former competitive runner turned photographer, embarks on a journey to document the triumphs and struggles of famed ultra trailrunners, including Jim Walmsley and Eszter Csillag. Traveling to mythical races—the Western States Endurance Run in the mountains of eastern California, the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc in the French Alps—the film marvels at athletes who maintain their intensity as they run 100 miles of mountain trails while climbing thousands of vertical feet.

In a bathroom of sickly perfection, a woman loses herself in the midst of her eating disorders, in a world of self-distortion, where every reflection becomes a mirror of her deepest insecurities.

After a failed job interview, Selma spends her day at a shopping mall. As time seems to stand still, she aimlessly wanders through the stores. To those around her, she maintains a facade of normalcy, but the weight of her secret weighs heavily on her.

Documentary film about bird life in the Alps.

With his Swissorama system, Ernst Heiniger made a film in 1984 that embraced the landscapes and curiosities of Switzerland in 360°. Restored in virtual reality in 2024 by the Swiss Cinematheque.

A short parody film of “Point Break”.

Inspector Bochard is part of the Blue Rider, an organization tasked with ridding the world of the flesh-eating monsters that lurk within it. But an unexpected encounter with a creature of extraordinary beauty will not leave him unmoved.

An insight into the filmmaker's stay in a hospital, where she repeatedly experiences absurd, funny moments between pain, homesickness, and disgust over her body.

Rami's 13-year-old daughter is killed in Jerusalem by a suicide bomber. When the grieving father meets Palestinian Bassam, an unlikely friendship develops between the two fathers. They do not yet know what tragic twist of fate will bring them even closer together.

A trio of friends plans to spend their summer weekend in a vacation home by a lake. But when Oscar has to cancel at the last minute, the situation between the other two friends – Jacques and Pierre – grows uncomfortable.

Ben is a painter in the midst of a creative crisis. After a long separation he reunites with his friend Emil, who has just finished his studies abroad. But time and distance seem to have changed more than just their opinions on art.

A man tries to find the mysterious woman that keep appearing in his dreams.

Morvan, 1842: forced to pass themselves off as men in order to reach Paris, two sisters embark on an eventful raft journey among the log drivers.

SinopsisAfrica ought to live, telling stories, Africa needs to love itself today, Africa has to resist and the best weapon is ist culture, ist identity. A film is like a lourney where meetings occur. From the land of the pharaos to the countries where ebony is hidden – storytellers.

HIC&NUNC is a film projected in 16mm on a wax screen. The images and sounds offer an immersive experience in an artist's studio, creating a subjective portrait that explores gestures, materials, and the concept of reproduction.

Mary, an Indian nurse in Switzerland, receives an invitation to a Christmas party from a doctor, where she meets Edi. As she navigates the budding feelings, Mary grapples with the looming specter of an arranged marriage awaiting her back home.

Pierre Koralnik's documentary about American sculptor Louise Nevelson

Bünzen Theater Group 1991.

Lumberjack Jack, obsessed with a girl, tries to get in touch with her, but the forest where he works seems to be a psychedelic and dangerous vision.

The Depth Beneath, The Height Above consists in an exploration of the high alpine region of Robiei, southern Switzerland. Conceived as a sensory piece, the film particularly focuses on the existing relationships between the human, animal, infrastructural and natural elements that compose Robiei's specific landscape.

Ms. Mode plays

an old movie theater owner must find a solution to his impending eviction.

Jean-Luc and Stéphane are two dynamic and unscrupulous young bank executives. They leave their office on a Friday evening, determined to enjoy the weekend. After stopping by their dealer's place, they head into the Lausanne night, ready to meet the most unusual people, convinced that money opens all doors and that nothing can stand in their way.

Instead of a person looking into the display, the display stares back at the viewer. We are being watched.

A sensual expedition that accompanies a young generation of scientists and philosophers on their journey to the core of humanity. With breathtaking experiments they change the genetic code and create new identities.

Noah a young teenager from Lausanne, is facing family conflicts and sometimes the law, but is driven by his passion for wheelies.

With 'AUGENBLICK' (the 'space of an instant'), Franz Reichle has given us a highly unusual work. During turbulent times, two young people find each other, fall in love, fight and ultimately separate. They are looking for new directions and ways of life, taking things one day at a time and squeezing the fulfilment of their desires out of every moment. The 'space of an instant' is surprising in form and style: Reichle positions himself against conventional ways of seeing, and takes an almost anarchic approach to the rules of drama. His point of view is shaped by interior processes: sensations, rather than events, are portrayed in the images appearing on screen. One of the few films which attempts to expand the language of the cinema. Urs Jäggi in Zoom-Filmberater, March 1986.

Su, a young Italian gardener, works in Switzerland. One morning she is summoned by her boss to defend herself against an accusation of theft at work. Su reviews the events of the day and recalls her encounter with her colleague Lore, a somewhat older and mysterious woman. As the interview with the boss proceeds, Su realises that in order to protect herself she has to tell a different version of the actual events.

Marlo is a cook and aspiring filmmaker trying to capture all that is ephemeral on hard drives. Eloïse is an actress who attends endless auditions while still young. Finally, Liam is a jazz-obsessed musician who locks himself away in a world of music and cigars. The film explores these three diverse existences trying to find their place in an ever-changing world, under the unchanging glow of the remnants of the Betelgeuse supernova.

Lawrence Lek directs an animated court drama where the defendant is a driverless car accused of kidnapping its own creator. Setting the premise for the artist to address themes like accountability, agency, the (already happening) use of AI in the justice system, and the future of class struggle. In the tradition of Philip K. Dick and Franz Kafka, this trial is a powerful reminder of the normalisation of the absurd and of the urgent need for a new system of ethics.

242 Skateboards / Redline Films / Evil Twinz present SPIRAL TRIBE.

A visual experiment on the different types of movement in a city.

Portrait of a house for unwed mothers in the Canton Jura.

Maha and Mohamed talk about their arranged marriage (called "salon marriage" in Egypt), about furnishing the apartment they are renovating in a gated community called Future City, and about the mathematics of love. Their voices are heard to a sequence of photographs depicting their future apartment.

The camera - reflexion - separation

An artistically sophisticated performative rendition of speeches given at a conference of cultural workers in the former Yugoslavia in 1985 by artists, curators and cultural diplomats from the European South and the Middle and Far East, proposing strategies of self-determination and an emphasis on the autonomy of non-Western arts. The translation of these messages into acoustic, choreographic and architectural structures also reinforces the female voice that is missing from traditional narratives of the construction of the world today.

While installing an exhibition late at night, an art handler is hunted down by a mysterious killer. A painting gives an award acceptance speech.

Daughter and father meet in a white room. An innocent conversation about a deal with the Queen reveals: the apparent emptiness is taken up by a stigmatised diagnosis and decades of silence. What begins as a questioning about the past develops into a sincere dialogue in the present.

Explosions, tremors, smoke, whistling, loss of bearings, euphoria, danger, light and darkness: the pyrotechnics of feelings.