Balance 2008: success for Swiss films at major international festivals

“This year’s presence reflects the diversity of Swiss film productions: a broad range of films had at least one screening at one of the major international festival platforms,” explained Micha Schiwow, director of Swiss Films, in summarising the tendency for 2008, and added, “Particularly noticeable is the strong presence of filmmakers from the French-speaking region of Switzerland, and that in all genres.“

Among the 52 Swiss film productions were 11 fiction, 12 documentary and 29 short films (10 of which are animation films). With just 11 films, the presence for fiction films was below the average recorded in the past five years, which was 14 films per year. Ursula Meier’s fiction film “Home” celebrated its world premiere in Cannes – in the International Critic’s Week competition – before being screened at the festivals in Tokyo and Mar del Plata. Lionel Baier’s “Another Man” represented Switzerland in the international competition in Locarno. Whereas “The Noise In My Head” by Vincent Pluss and “Sunny Hill” by Luzius Rüedi celebrated their premieres in Montreal, Micha Lewinsky’s “Der Freund” participated in the competition in Shanghai and Silvio Soldini’s “Days And Clouds” in Moscow. The film “Tandoori Love” by Oliver Paulus participated in the international competition in Cairo and won an award.

Swiss documentary film productions lived up to their excellent reputation once again. The twelve films, which were screened in the main sections of the major international festivals, have indeed experienced a striking festival career: “The Mother” by Antoine Cattin and Pavel Kostomarov was screened in the Karlovy Vary documentary film competition, among others; Fernand Melgar’s “The Fortress” won the Golden Leopard of the Filmmakers of the Present competition in Locarno; and “Témoin indésirable” by Juan José Lozano represented Switzerland at the leading festival in Toronto.

Swiss short film productions maintained their high level as regards festival participation and awards. Swiss short films were selected at all major festivals, including the graduate film “II Don't Dream In German“ by Ivana Lalovic, which participated in the competition in Venice. In terms of awards, the short films “René” by Tobias Nölle and “On The Line” by Reto Caffi cleaned up this year, with the highlight for the latter being the Student Oscar.

In 2008, 12 fiction films, 19 documentary films and 33 short films (7 of which were animation films) were honoured with awards at international festivals in Switzerland and abroad and won a total of CHF 350,000 in monetary prizes, CHF 200,000 of which was won at foreign events, which amounts to CHF 20,000 above the results recorded in 2007. This increase can be accounted for by the documentary and short films. The prizes thus constitute a front-end financing of films which should not be underestimated, particularly for the “shorts”, which generated monetary prizes and non-cash benefits amounting to CHF 241,000 (69% of the total amount).

The film promotion agency SWISS FILMS supported the presence of Swiss film productions at international film festivals with networking and promotional contributions amounting to a total of more than CHF 140,000, as well as with the purchase of international prints amounting to CHF 180,000.

Zurich, December 11. 2008