Discoveries from Switzerland World Cinema

(01:50, 16 mm, color, silent) ENVÍO 8 (2009) for Helga Fanderl. Filmed in Paris.

The film was realized according to the formulaic concept "TAM 4/71."

Documentary film.

Documentary film.

Dennis and his filmmaker friend decide to join his parents in Tuscany where they are spending the summer holiday. Dennis is not in the best of moods. His past and his choices seem to loom over him, to haunt him even in the golden and warm sun of Tuscany. His friend tries to unlock his silences, unsuccessfully. Dennis seems to be hurting. Only skating feels a bit like a momentary peace of mind. His parents do not ask, and Dennis does not tell.

We enter a living painting: actors demonstrating to the cries of “They don’t represent us!”, the rallying slogan of the anti-austerity movement in the Puerta del Sol square, who in 2011 shared their desire to create an original space of direct democracy. Like Irene Muñoz Martín. In this personal essay, she returns to this experience that has not yet found its “expression”: a canonical image that she attempts to capture, in vain.

About friendship, cats and sex. While having a late night reunion, four friends discuss their relationships with cats and humans alike and discover unforeseen coherences.

Domingo, a peaceful Sunday where nothing happens... Or almost nothing!

A film by Stefan Lauper.

"I wanted to make a portrait of three artists that would show them by primarily using their surroundings. Therefore, the artists themselves would not be in the picture but rooms, objects, where they walk to and where they drive, and personal and impersonal things around the artists would be described. Through the rhythm of the takes, I tried to achieve a poetic flow that would smoothly compliment their personalities. I told myself at the time that pictures and the rhythm of the pictures should be enough to characterize the three." (HHK)

"This film shows my life with my family in the Triemli high-rise in Zurich." (HHK)

A feature length documentary film following one man's search for random Americans concerned about an Islamic threat and offering them a free trip to Egypt.

Filmed in Quintay, sent to Santiago. For Claudia Muñoz. "In the rocks by the sea there is a woman watching the sun set. We read, we talk". J.M.

Filmed in Zürich. For Sofía Verder "As if I had the intention to narrate things, I have saved a considerable amount of notes and details". J.M.

Documentary feature about Swiss writer Yvette Z'Graggen and her life, mixing voice-over, talking head, and some docu-drama. Directed by Frédéric Gonseth.

A stop-motion short about death.

Carmela, don Gregorio, Gabriella and Lorella have never met but they have a lot in common. In the mid 60's, at the peak of the great migratory wave, alone or together with their families, they arrived in Switzerland, where they lived for a more or less lengthy period. Four different stories that speak of hopes, dreams, and solidarity. But they also tell of closure, xenophobia, clandestinity and exploitation.

The concept of Spin, the inherent turning momentum of electrons, stands for the passing of time and for time itself. The unceasing transformation of the world is translated into film via the gliding movement of the camera. Bright light and blurring portray the environment of the film’s elderly subject, my mother, as pure atmosphere. Her few calm gestures in the face of diminishing time and energy convey a personal presence undisturbed by specific goals. She sits and breathes quietly. When walking she travels across space. The turning away of a tree full of apples evokes regret, as does a sharp light that narrows and dissolves. In the final image my mother seems to taste a bitterness that eludes comprehension.

Bobsleighing in the summer is, of course, not really a very good idea, yet Daniel Zimmerman manages to do it. On a summer Alpen meadow, he patiently constructs a track of about ten thousand wooden slats. Thanks to the stop motion technique, his camera takes us on a thundering journey through the mountain landscape. The soundtrack provides an Olympic atmosphere. With a flashy parody of the ride film to boot. And a curious example of land art.

The Lauberhorn ski race, the longest in the world, is taking place in the summer this year. Ten thousand wooden slats laid out in a perfect course that the skiers could never make themselves. As a spectator, we get inside the skiers who race down at a dizzying speed. Accompanied by a live commentary.

Two best buddies, one of them falls in love, the other one goes overboard. What remains is the friendship.

This documentary follows the daily life of a family of artisans who work with soapstone, or steatite, in the mountains of Valtellina, Italy.

While his mother is fighting cancer, his sister announces that she is pregnant, and his father sets out to renovate the dining room, David Maye films. He films the intimacy of his family, the moments shared in the house that saw him grow up, between the vines of the Valais region, in the hollow of the mountains. The Sunday reunions, around his father’s cooking, the summer days in the flowering garden, together… He films, as if his camera could still hold back his family, keep it solid and close-knit, when everything is crumbling faced with the perspective of death.

“The Mutan tree, well we say tree, but originally it’s a liana that uses the tree to climb. And its grasp ends up killing the tree. That’s what is going to happen between us and the companies.” In Sarawak, one of the two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo, the Penan — who not that long ago were still nomads — are the first to be affected by deforestation.

On a mission to define friendship, Filippo Filliger weaves together, like a Chinese portrait, objects, memories, and affection. A fine gesture, simultaneously generous and modest, which is successful in approaching and translating an intangible matter; that which even sometimes manifests itself in the mere obviousness of its existence. Although feelings cannot be represented, they may at least be invoked, such as the figure of the synecdoche—one part to skim over everything, in this specific case. The image on film holds itself at a distance from the sound and exacerbates a feeling of in-betweenness: time passes, impressions fade, while relationships are built, imperceptibly.

Against a backdrop of disturbing images the viewer is presented with a WhatsApp conversation between two lovers in the final months of their relationship. The film was funded by the Netherlands Film Fund and premiered at the prestigious 67th “Festival del film” in Locarno.

The entire film was rephotographed and edited into Eniaios Cycle V. Filmed in Mistra, Greece.

The world of the favela Reboleira is coming to an end. A motorway project is threatening this little village in the heart of Lisbon. Alternating documentary segments on the local history with narratives by various inhabitants, the film captures a vulnerable way of life, in danger of imminent disappearance.

Ivan meets Paolo, little Jonas meets Ida, another Jonas meets Sandra and Annina meets Jonas - in July, at a campsite by a river.

Nirin is 6 years old. His mother had promised they would go on a lovely, long trip and Nirin is eagerly looking forward to discovering his country on a journey in a bush taxi, together with his two younger brothers. It’s the first time he’s leaving his native village in Madagascar. However, this great journey doesn’t turn out the way Nirin had imagined it.

According to his friend Polo the “Ober-Swiss,” Max is a spineless character who lives strictly according to conventions and is never satisfied with himself or the world. In truth, Max is fictitious – born out of the fantasy of the filmmaker Clemens Klopfenstein, who created him as his alter ego. Max falls in love with the impassioned Christine, but she jilts him within a short time because of his reluctant disposition. He thus takes a decision: to call upon the “master” in the hopes that he can liberate him from the interminably same role. Based on works by Clemens Klopfenstein, the compilation film emerges as a new, self-contained story, while rendering palpable the very essence of the filmmaker.

A black sun rises above Lake Leman. In a surrealist backlight, several bathers and aquatic birds witness the spectacle of daybreak, hypnotized by the music played by a cellist.

Experimental short.

With I'm a Victim of this Song, Rist takes up the concept of the "cover" version, in which one performer does a version of another's song, and gives it her own twist. Starting with music from Chris Isaak's hit single Wicked Game, she adds her own sung and screamed versions of the lyrics, accompanied by effects-manipulated, diaristic video images. The result is an art-world "cover" of a popular artifact, with a woman's voice reinterpreting the male original, and a vivid illustration of the consumer's claim to own and interpret media images.

He took up the camera as other people take the pencil and paper. In 1968 he presented his first film Lydia at the Solothurner Filmtage. His appearance as a Filmmaker was absolutely unexpected: the only lyric poet of the film, who succeeded virtually without effort in turning his inner life outwards, creating dreamlike images. With a juvenile absoluteness, innocently arrogant, the pale, gaunt man had put the following sentence in the festival paper: "Look, what kind of a film Reto Andrea Savoldelli has created for you with five thousand Swiss Francs." He pitched himself as "First exponent of the Swiss Immigrant's Cinema". (Martin Schaub)

For most of his life, Dirk has been searching for the woman of his dreams. After several failed relationships and a burnout, he finally seems to have found the love of his life, Jenny: the perfect match at first sight – but somehow fundamentally different…

It's about a little village in Switzerland, and about one guy who lives there since 32 years and doesn't know anyone there...

Five children from around the world charged by the earth to share their stories of climate solutions and sustainable designs from their home regions. They decide to scale back existing technologies and create sustainable designs, but the Earth's systems have already reached critical levels.

Ionate films is back with its second freeride mountainbike film and takes you on a ride through dust, dirt, tarmac and snow. Lean back and enjoy the resounding scenery spanning from the heart of the Swiss Alps over mountains and glaciers down to the Ligurian coastline, the broad spaces of the Provence and the streets of Berlin. See what riders like René Wildhaber, Ross Schnell, Samuel Zbinden and Carlo Dieckmann do when they go riding, not racing. Riders: René Wildhaber, Ross Schnell, Samuel Zbinden, Carlo Dieckmann, Romeo Volken, Pascal Breitenstein, Mischa Breitenstein, Adrian Fischer, Sacha Robert, Katja Rupf, Marco Bugnone, Vinzenz Guntern, Roman Roschi, Mathé Hüsler Filmed on location in Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Austria and France

On an aircraft, a passenger recalls the pictures which he just completed. These images are seen by a fly. And time that passed to identify himself in comparison to the insect makes him doubt his own vision.

In memory of Jo Mihaly and the Grand Hotel Brissago.

A criminal wants to turn himself in to the police - but his accomplice is willing to take drastic measures to stop him. Who will pay for what they've done?

Lilith, a young woman living in perfect autonomy in the heart of nature, is unknowingly watched by a monk frightened by her freedom. Drawn by a ghostly silhouette, she discovers an abandoned baby before being forcibly integrated into an assembly of witches. There, she finds herself at the heart of a sinister ritual that confronts her with a dark destiny, forcing her to face the ultimate trial of power, sacrifice, and feminine resilience.