2012: Swiss films at all top festivals

Swiss film productions celebrated their premieres at the world’s top 12 festivals in Berlin, Cannes, Karlovy Vary, Locarno, Mar del Plata, Montreal, Park City (Sundance), San Sebastian, Shanghai, Toronto, Venice and Warsaw. The fiction film “Opération Libertad” established itself in Cannes in the Directors’ Fortnight, while the debut films “Tutti Giù” and “Annelie” took festivals by surprise in Locarno and Busan, respectively. The fiction film “Sister” was honoured with a Silver Bear in Berlin and is the Swiss candidate in the running – with excellent prospects – for an Oscar nomination. “The popularity record for documentary film productions – with ticket sales amounting to a near-record figure of over 400,000 in cinemas in Switzerland – is clearly reflected in international success,” notes Micha Schiwow, director of SWISS FILMS, adding: “Swiss documentary filmmaking demonstrated world class with such films as “Die Kinder vom Napf,” “The End of Time,” “Die Wiesenberger,” “More Than Honey,” “Virgin Tales” and the European Film Award winner “Hiver Nomade.”

Support for festival participation bears fruit
Extending the sphere to the 50 most important festivals yields the following results: 106 Swiss films (2011: 97) were invited to the main festival sections, several of these to multiple festivals (Table I). This figure encompasses 26 fiction, 33 documentary films and 47 short films – including 18 animation films. A striking increase was seen among the documentary films compared with 2011 – from 25 to 33. In addition to the premieres of the most recent productions, numerous films from the previous year were invited to major international festivals.

Film programmes provide for international renown
Numerous film festivals proved to be ideal platforms for film programmes promoting individual filmmakers and their works in 2012 as well. SWISS FILMS initiated 25 film programmes encompassing 266 film productions by 166 filmmakers (Table III). While SWISS FILMS continued its focus in Latin America in 2012, the Big Cartoon Festival in Moscow served to launch Swiss presence in Russia, planned in various locations next year. Highlights were the homage to Fernand Melgar in Argentina and the homage to Juan José Lozano in Bogotá. Retrospectives were devoted in equal measure to well-established directors such as Tanner, Veuve and Dindo as to recent films from the Romandy, represented by Ursula Meier, Lionel Baier, Jean-Stéphane Bron and Frédéric Mermoud. In addition, animation filmmakers Georges Schwizgebel and Isabelle Favez had major appearance with their works.

Abundant awards
Twenty-six fiction films, 25 feature-length documentary films and 65 short films – 23 of which were animation films – won awards at international festivals in Switzerland and abroad until the end of November 2012. These 116 films garnered a total of 258 awards and a total of approximately CHF 440,000 in monetary prizes (Table II). This figure does not include the nomination funds for the Swiss Film Prize 2012. Considerably more fiction film productions reaped awards this year – 26 compared to 19. Particularly successful were the fiction film “Sister” and the documentary film “Hiver nomade,” as well as the Italian-Swiss film “L’intervallo” among the coproductions. Sweeping the board among the short film productions were “Einspruch VI” and “L'ambassadeur & moi,” both of which were nominated for the European Film Award and received the most festival invitations. This year another short film production from Switzerland was screened in Cannes: “Os vivos tambem choram.” Taking the lead among the animation film productions were “Bon voyage,” “Romance” and “Der kleine Vogel und das Blatt.” Several film productions from 2011 continued their careers and won awards: for example, “Abrir puertas y ventanas,” “Der Verdingbub,” “Vol spécial” and “The Substance.” Particularly for documentary films, which generated approximately 30% of the monetary prizes and non-cash benefits, and for short films generating approximately 60%, these awards constitute an additional financing which should not be underestimated.

SWISS FILMS, the promotion agency, supported the presence of Swiss film productions at film festivals abroad with consulting and networking, with promotional contributions amounting to a total of CHF 250,000 and with the purchase of copies for international use amounting to CHF 106,000.

Zurich, December 11, 2012

Table I: Swiss films screened in main sections of major international film festivals 2012
german version PDF
french version PDF

Table II: Awards for Swiss films at international festivals 2012
german version PDF
french version PDF

Table III: Film programme 2012
german version PDF
french version PDF