End-of-the-year review 2021

Four promising Swiss productions kicked off the 2021 festival year at the renowned Sundance Film Festival. In addition to the animation film LITTLE MISS FATE by Joder von Rotz and the Swiss-Portuguese short documentary SPIRITS AND ROCKS: AN AZOREAN MYTH by Aylin Gökmen, two further Swiss coproductions – TAMING THE GARDEN and HIVE – launched successful international festival careers: the Swiss-Georgian-German documentary TAMING THE GARDEN by Georgian director Salomé Jashi (Mira Film Basel) went on to be screened at more than 30 major festivals around the globe, including the Berlinale and IDFA, and was nominated for the European Film Award as Best Documentary Film. 

HIVE by Kosovar director Blerta Basholli was honoured with the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at Sundance as well as with the Audience Award and the Directing Award in the World Cinema Dramatic section. The film is a coproduction between Kosovo, Switzerland (Alva Film Production), North Macedonia and Albania and, in addition to its festival career, it boasts a notable level of sales in some 20 countries, including China. HIVE has entered the race for an Oscar as Kosovo’s official candidate. 

High-quality documentary films

With the documentary film NOTHING BUT THE SUN by Arami Ullon (Cineworx Filmproduktion), another Swiss coproduction has entered the Oscar race in the International Feature Film category – for Paraguay. The film was nominated for Best Feature Film by the prestigious International Documentary Association in November.

The documentary film OSTROV – LOST ISLAND by Svetlana Rodina and Laurent Stoop (DokLab GmbH) won the award for Best Documentary Film at Hot Docs Toronto and has also qualified for the Academy Awards in the Documentary Feature category. DIDA, a personal portrayal by Nikola Ilić and Corina Schwingruber Ilić, was yet another Swiss documentary film that met with tremendous response at festivals worldwide. It won the Audience Award at DOK Leipzig.

Impressive line-up at the Berlinale

The Berlinale was held online as an industry event featuring an extensive Swiss line-up, with a subsequent stage in summer for the general public and the award ceremonies.
Andreas Fontana’s debut film AZOR, (Alina film; Switzerland, Argentina, France) was screened in the Encounters section. Also selected for this section was THE GIRL AND THE SPIDER by Roman and Silvan Zürcher (Beauvoir Films), which won Best Director Award and the FIPRESCI Award. Frédéric Baillif’s THE FAM (Fresh Prod) was honoured with the Grand Jury for Best Film in the Generation 14plus Competition. For all three films, the premiere at the Berlinale was the start of an expansive international festival career as well as numerous sales to distributors worldwide. 

The German-Swiss science-fiction film TIDES by Tim Fehlbaum (coproduced by Vega Film) was screened in the Berlinale Special and honoured with no less than four German Film Awards in October. 

Striking animation and short film production/filmmaking

At the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, held in hybrid format, several short films were screened in competition that became veritable international festival hits in the course of the year. For example, DARWIN’S NOTEBOOK by Georges Schwizgebel (Swiss Film Award for Best Short Film), SWEET NOTHING by Marie Kenov and Joana Fischer, DANS LA NATURE by Marcel Barelli and PEEL by Samuel Patthey and Silvain Monney, which won the “Cristal du court métrage” in Annecy. PEEL, like the globally successful compilation film ONLY A CHILD by Simone Giampaolo, has qualified for the Academy Awards in the Animated Short Film category.

It was, however, not only the short animation films that celebrated success. The Locarno award-winning STRANGERS by Nora Longatti, as well as ALA KACHUU by Maria Brendle and the highly acclaimed short film YOUR STREET by Güzin Kar, which has already made the shortlist for the Cinema Eye Honors, have also qualified for the Oscar race.

Jela Hasler’s ON SOLID GROUND celebrated its world premiere in the Cannes Critic’s Week and, following numerous festival selections, was also chosen as the candidate of the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur for the European Film Awards.

Cannes, Locarno, Venice 

SWISS FILMS was present at the hybrid edition of the Cannes Film Festival with a virtual stand at the Marché du Film and a small delegation on site. OLGA, Elie Grappe’s first feature-length film (Point Prod), celebrated its world premiere in the Semaine de la Critique. The film has entered the Oscar race as Switzerland’s official entry and has already been sold in over 20 countries. 

The Locarno Film Festival was held in a physical form again this year and presented approximately 40 Swiss productions, also in the First Look focus programme in partnership with SWISS FILMS. Lorenz Merz’s feature film SOUL OF A BEAST (Hesse Film) celebrated its premiere in the International Competition, while the Swiss-Georgian feature film WET SAND by Elene Naveriani (maximage) and ZAHORÍ by Marí Alessandrini, a coproduction between Switzerland (Le Laboratoire Central), Argentina, Chile and France, were screened in the Cineasti del presente competition. The Swiss-Austrian-German coproduction MONTE VERITÀ by Stefan Jäger (tellfilm) celebrated its premiere with a screening on the Piazza Grande.

Two documentary films were screened in the Semaine de la critique: Heidi Specogna’s STAND UP MY BEAUTY (Fama Film) and the minority coproduction A THOUSAND FIRES by Saeed Taji Farouky (coproduction Akka Films), which was subsequently also selected for the IDFA competition. 

The Venice International Film Festival also took place under largely normal circumstances and with a strong Swiss presence, especially from Ticino. Four films were screened in the Giornate degli Autori: Stefano Knuchel’s HUGO IN ARGENTINA (Fiumi Film) as well as the minor coproductions CAVEMAN – THE HIDDEN GIANT (Contrast Film), FELLINI E L’OMBRA (Célestes Images) and MADELEINE COLLINS (Close Up Films)

With Leonardo di Costanzo’s ARIAFERMA (Amka Films Productions) in the official festival selection and Matteo Tortone’s MOTHER LODE (C-Side Productions) in the Settimana Internazionale della Critica, there were two further minority coproductions with Italian directors. The documentary VR project CAVES by Carlos Isabel (Ensemble Film) was screened in the Venice Virtual Reality Competition.

Further notable festival careers 

Apart from the so-called A-festivals, Swiss films have also caused a stir at other international festivals around the globe, including, among many others SAMI, JOE AND I by Karin Heberlein (Abrakadabra Films), THE SAINT OF THE IMPOSSIBLE by Marc Wilkins (Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion), ATLAS by Niccolò Castelli (Imagofilm), NEIGHBOURS by Mano Khalil (Frame Film) and LIFE BEGINS, LIFE ENDS by Rafael Palacio Illingworth (Nora Films).

The festival year now comes to an end with the Les Arcs Film Festival and its focus on Alpine Cinema, featuring a carefully curated selection of new and older films from Switzerland. 

Cinema market hit hard by the pandemic 

While festivals found a viable way to navigate the pandemic with hybrid editions and precautionary measures, its effects hit the global cinema market particularly hard. Cinemas remained closed for months in many places. With country-specific measures, the cinemas restarted their operations in the course of the year, but were unable to match earlier audience figures, despite attracting films such as James Bond. 

In view of the strained situation, there is a backlog of films. Although numerous Swiss films had good country sales, they had to postpone their cinema release until 2022. As a result, there are only a few international releases of films from Switzerland and a sharp drop in admission sales in 2021.

New faces at SWISS FILMS

In January 2021 the media manager and entrepreneur Catherine Mühlemann took over the presidency of the SWISS FILMS Foundation Board of Trustees. The new vice-president is Swiss producer and distributor Christoph Daniel. Nicola Ruffo, an interdisciplinary networker in film, digital media and innovation, took up his post as the new director in July. 

SWISS FILMS is the national agency for the promotion of films made in Switzerland. On behalf of the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, SWISS FILMS strengthens the international presence of Swiss film productions through consulting, support measures and communication services. The foundation, which is organised under private law, maintains an office in Zurich and in Geneva.