Cannes 2021: Switzerland celebrates two world premieres in the Semaine de la Critique

OLGA is a Swiss-French coproduction, produced by Point Prod, Geneva (Jean-Marc Fröhle) together with RTS and Cinéma Defacto, Paris. It is the first feature-length film by ECAL graduate Elie Grappe, who was able to present the project in the “The Films After Tomorrow” section at the 2020 Locarno Film Festival. OLGA tells the story of a young Ukrainian gymnast living in exile in Switzerland. Her ambitious plans are challenged when the Euromaidan uprising erupts in Kiev. The world rights were acquired by French Pulsar Content.

The 12-minute short film ON SOLID GROUND by Jela Hasler revolves around a young protagonist trying to escape the confinement and hustle of the city on a hot summer day. The film was produced by Langfilm (Olivier Zobrist) together with SRF and is represented by KurzFilmAgentur Hamburg; festival distribution is handled by Dutch agency Kapitein Kort.

The two Swiss films will celebrate their world premieres in the Semaine de la Critique. This section is organized by the French Union of Film Critics as a competition for feature-length and short films.

Additional films with Swiss participation

The festival will open with Leos Carax’s ANNETTE, coproduced by Genevan Garidi Films (Consuelo Frauenfelder). The film, starring Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver in the leading roles, is the French star director’s first in English.

Geneva-born Swiss actress Souheila Yacoub is featured in the leading roles of two French films screening in the 2021 Quinzaine des Réalisateurs section: THE BRAVES by Anaïs Volpé and A BRIGHTER TOMORROW by Yassine Qnia.

Dan Wechsler producer at Geneva-based Bord Cadre films was involved in three festival films: MEMORIA by Apichatpong Weerasethakul (in competition), PETROV’S FLU by Kyrill Srebrenikov (in competition) and NOCHE DE FUEGO by Tatiana Huezo (Un certain regard).

Swiss producers participating at networking platforms

From Switzerland, the four producers Cyrill Gerber (Milan Film), Olivier Zobrist (Langfilm), Judith Lichtneckert (Emilia Productions / Snakefilm) and Consuelo Frauenfelder (Garidi Films) will participate in the Producers Network of the Marché du Film Cannes. SWISS FILMS supports their participation. The programme offers them the opportunity to network and present their current projects to international industry representatives.

Producer Sarah Born (Catpics) was selected as one of the Producers on the Move 2021 for the exclusive European Film Promotion EFP’s talent programme upon the recommendation of SWISS FILMS. This year’s workshops were already held online in May, and now some of the 2020 and 2021 Producers on the Move will gather in Cannes for a 2-day workshop.

Swiss director, producer and cinematographer Fabrice Aragno, who has worked on several films by Jean-Luc Godard and was awarded a Palme d’or Spéciale in 2018 for Godard’s THE IMAGE BOOK, has been invited with his film project LE LAC to participate as one of the 15 filmmakers in the “Atelier” of Cinéfondation in Cannes.

A THOUSAND FIRES by Saeed Taji Farouky, coproduced by Geneva-based Akka Films, is among the four documentary projects invited to the “ParisDOC Works-in-Progress”. This industry platform of the Cinéma du réel Festival in Paris is part of Cannes Docs at the Marché du film.

SWISS FILMS present on site and online

This year the Marché du Film will take place in a hybrid form – on site and online. As last year, SWISS FILMS will be present with a virtual stand at the online market. In addition, a small team, including the new director Nicola Ruffo, will be in Cannes from July 7 to 13.

Several Swiss film productions were already available for online screenings to accredited buyers and festival programmers during the Pre-Cannes Screenings (June 21-25).

The e-Booklet SWISS FILMS CANNES 2021 presents a selection of current Swiss productions and introduces films with screenings at the market, recently completed films as well as films in production.

SWISS FILMS, July 1st, 2021