Domestic promotion

The 2025-2028 Cultural Message and the “Swiss film funding in transition” study, recently published by the FOC, both emphasise the need to strengthen the visibility of Swiss film domestically. New promotional activities are now being developed and implemented as part of a pilot project. The pilot will focus on two areas of activity:

On the one hand, the objective is to acquire further partners and use collaborations to sustainably bolster the funding initially provided by the FOC. The goal is to achieve a greater impact and a broader reach for Swiss film.

On the other hand, pilot campaigns will reach out directly to the audience. In close consultation with partners and experts, measures will be developed to strengthen the visibility of Swiss film and to more effectively reach the audience. The strategy involves implementing national B2C marketing campaigns to promote selected Swiss films, series or talents. These should whet the appetite of the domestic audience for even more Swiss films.

In this regard, there have already been various projects and initiatives in the past. SWISS FILMS intends to draw on past activities, adapt the new activities accordingly and, in doing so, take into greater account the new viewing habits of the audience.

Establishing a project team

Once the cultural message takes effect, the development of the measure should be undertaken quickly. In the next few weeks, SWISS FILMS will appoint a project manager and then set up a project team, which will also involve collaboration with selected external specialists to support the team. The launch of the first B2C pilot activities will take place after a brief set-up phase as of mid-2025 at the earliest.

Support from industry experts

The SWISS FILMS executive board bears the responsibility for the pilot project and will be supervised by a promotional committee of the foundation’s board of trustees. In addition, a sounding board has been initiated together with the FOC, which will support the development of the B2C activities with its expertise in an advisory capacity. The experts of the sounding board are:

• Raphaël Brunschwig, Locarno Film Festival, Chief Executive Officer (Festival)
• Xavier Pattaroni, Cinemotion, Programmation (Cinema)
• Cathy Flaviano, SRG SSR, Head of Play Suisse (Streaming)
• Barbara Miller, independent director, producer, author (Authors)
• Flavia Zanon, Close-up Films, producer (Production)
• Claudia Badoer, Filmcoopi, Codirector, film acquisition, marketing and subsidies (Distribution)
• Nicola Ruffo, SWISS FILMS, Director (Project management)
• Nadine Adler Spiegel, FOC, Co-Head of the Film Section (Principal)

With the publication of its annual industry survey at the end of 2024, SWISS FILMS will provide further opportunities to contribute ideas for domestic promotion. In addition, SWISS FILMS issues regular updates on the further progress of the pilot project in its newsletters and at selected industry events. The next update will be at the Solothurn Film Festival (SoPro, Friday, January 24, 1:30 pm). The executive board also welcomes further ideas and feedback.