Winners of the Swiss Film Prize «Quartz 2012»
The Swiss Film Prize «Quartz» was awarded in the KKL Luzern on March 17, 2012. The gala event marked the 15th edition of the prize, with awards in nine categories presented to films and outstanding achievements in film. The Italian speaking fiction film “Summer Games” garnered three awards and was thus the evening’s victorious film.
17.03.2012
And the winners are...
The film ”Summer Games” (production: Peacock Film, Zurich) collected three awards in Lucerne: director Rolando Colla accepted the «Quartz» for Best Fiction Film from the Locarno Film Festival director Olivier Père; together with Pilar Anguita-MacKay he accepted the «Quartz» for Best Screenplay from the slam poet Daniela Dill. The prize for Best Cinematography, awarded for the first time, also went to “Summer Games”. Cinematographer Ueli Steiger presented this «Quartz» to Lorenz Merz. Carla Juri, the leading actress of the film “Eine wen iig, dr Dällebach Kari” won the prize for Best Actress and accepted the trophy from actress Irène Jacob. The «Quartz» for Best Actor went to Max Hubacher for his title role in the film “Der Verdingbub” (The Foster Boy) and was presented by director and actor Dani Levy. Actress Marie Leuenberger presented Stefan Kurt with the «Quartz» in the category of Best Performance in a Supporting Role for his role in the same film.
Fernand Melgar won the «Quartz» trophy, designed by Alfredo Häberli, for the “Vol special” (Special Flight) (production: Climage, Lausanne) in the category of Best Documentary Film, presented by film director Jean-Stéphane Bron. The prize for Best Short Film went to “Du&Ich” by Esen Isik (production: maximage, Zurich), which was presented by director and artist Emmanuelle Antille. Artist and musician Dieter Meier presented the «Quartz» in the category of Best Film Score to Peter Bräker, Balz Bachmann und George Vaine for the music in “Day Is Done”.
The prize-winners were selected by members of the Swiss Film Academy. The award ceremony is a gala event of the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, in collaboration with SRG SSR, the media partner, and SWISS FILMS.
Special Prize of the Academy
The Special Prize of the Academy went to Gion-Reto Killias, for the outstanding editing of the three nominated films “Abrir puertas y ventanas”, “Day Is Done” and “Eine wen iig, dr Dällebach Kari”. This prize was presented by Christian Frei, President of the Swiss Film Academy.
Honorary Award
The Honorary Award 2012 pays tribute to the extraordinary achievements by film director and author Rolf Lyssy (cf. press release on March 1, 2012). His film “Die Schweizermacher” (1978) has remained the most successful Swiss film production of the past 50 years. Lyssy’s works encompass further popular fiction films as well as several documentary films in earlier years, including “Ursula – Leben in Anderswo”, completed in 2011. Ivo Kummer, head of the film department at the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, honoured Lyssy’s fifty-year career and presented him the «Quartz» Honorary Award at the ceremony.
From 35-mm film to digital cinema
In the name of the Swiss Film Academy Fredi M. Murer presented Charly Huser with a Recognition for his outstanding technical achievements as a light engineer for 46 years at Schwarz Film AG.
Award ceremony
Moderator Susanne Kunz hosted the bilingual award ceremony, with 850 guests from culture, politics and business in attendance. Setting the stage musically was the Christoph Walter Orchestra.
Swiss film night on television
Each of the SRG television channels – SF zwei, SF, RTS un and RSI LA 1 – devoted an evening to Swiss filmmaking, broadcasting Swiss feature films and reportages on the world of Swiss filmmaking together with the coverage of the Swiss Film Prize «Quartz 2012.»
Lucerne, March 17, 2012