Beresina oder Die letzten Tage der Schweiz
Beresina or The Last Days of Switzerland
Berezina ou Les derniers jours de la Suisse
Beresina o gli ultimi giorni della Svizzera
Switzerland / Germany / Austria, May 1999
FILM,
Fiction,
108 min.
- directed by
- Daniel Schmid
- Written by
- Martin Suter
- Status
- In distribution
This black comedy tells the story of the lovely Irina, a Russian call girl who ends up in a fairy tale land in the Alps, and falls completely under its spell. She increasingly has dealings with a clientele from the worlds of business, politics, the military and the media, trusting her affairs to a shyster lawyer and his woman friend. In faraway Russia a family clan keenly follows her social climb. Pressed into service as an informer Irina finds herself completely lost in what for her remains an impenetrable labyrinth of interest groups. Finding herself blackmailed she is left with no choice but to spy on her clients, uncovering a number of unsavoury anecdotes.
Threatened with expulsion and acting on a misunderstanding and totally unaware of the consequences of what she is about to undertake, Irina sets in motion a plan for the overthrow of the government, a plan concocted many years earlier by an obscure political organisation: the Beresina alarm. The fate of the heroine, and indeed of the whole country, begins to take an unexpected turn.
credits
- World Premiere
- May 1999
- Original Version
- German (french subtitles), colour, 35mm, 108 min.
- Production
- T&C Film AG, Pandora Film Produktion, Prisma Film- und Fernsehproduktion GmbH, SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen, Teleclub AG
- Producer
- Marcel Hoehn
- directed by
- Daniel Schmid
- Written by
- Martin Suter
- Cinematography
- Renato Berta
- Editing
- Daniela Roderer
- Location Sound Mix
- Luc Yersin
Cast
Geraldine Chaplin
Chloé Seyssel
Stefan Kurt
Hanspeter Müller-Drossaart
World Sales / World Rights
- World Rights
- T&C Film AG
Worldwide Distribution
- Austria
- Filmladen Distribution
- France
- Connaissance du Cinéma Distribution
- Germany
- Pegasos Film Distribution
- Greece
- New Star Distribution
Awards
(a selection)
- Solothurn, Bundesamt für Kultur, Swiss Film Award, Best Fiction Film 2000 (Nomination)
Festivals
(a selection)
-
Zürich, 12. Zurich Film Festival
22.09.2016 - 02.10.2016 -
24th Ankara International Film Festival
14.03.2013 - 24.03.2013 -
Queer Lisboa 14 Lisbon Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
17.09.2010 - 25.09.2010 -
Montreal, 35th Festival Nouveau Cinéma Montréal
18.10.2006 - 28.10.2006 -
19. Troia International Film Festival
06.06.2003 - 15.06.2003 -
Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival
18.04.2002 - 28.04.2002 -
Mannheim-Heidelberg, Internationales Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg
09.11.2000 - 18.11.2000 -
Warsaw, Warsaw Film Festival
05.10.2000 - 16.10.2000 -
Seattle, Seattle International Film Festival
18.05.2000 - 11.06.2000 -
Filmkunstfest Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
03.05.2000 - 07.05.2000
-
San Francisco, San Francisco Int. Film Festival
20.04.2000 - 04.05.2000 -
Istanbul, International Istanbul Film Festival
15.04.2000 - 30.04.2000 -
Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minneapolis/St. Paul Int. Film Festival
14.04.2000 - 29.04.2000 -
Singapore International Film Festival
31.03.2000 - 15.04.2000 -
San Jose Film Festival
24.02.2000 - 05.03.2000 -
EFM European Film Market
09.02.2000 - 20.02.2000 -
Gothenburg, Göteborg Film Festival
28.01.2000 - 06.02.2000 -
Rotterdam, International Film Festival Rotterdam
26.01.2000 - 06.02.2000 -
Saarbrücken, 21. Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis
25.01.2000 - 30.01.2000 -
Solothurn, Solothurner Filmtage
18.01.2000 - 23.01.2000 -
Palm Springs, Palm Springs International Film Festival
13.01.2000 - 24.01.2000 -
Busan, Busan International Film Festival
14.10.1999 - 23.10.1999 -
Vancouver, 18th Vancouver Int. Film Festival
24.09.1999 - 10.10.1999 -
Festival do Rio
16.09.1999 - 30.09.1999 -
Montréal, 23e Festival des films du monde
27.08.1999 - 06.09.1999 -
Locarno, 52. Festival internazionale del film
04.08.1999 - 14.08.1999 -
Moscow, 21st Moscow Int. Film Festival
19.07.1999 - 29.07.1999 -
Cannes, Un Certain Regard
12.05.1999 - 23.05.1999