Francine Brücher (1943 - 2020)

Josefa Haas, President of the SWISS FILMS Board of Trustees:

"We are losing a friend of the cinema with Francine, a mentor who was there to guide us when it came to recognising which film would best find its way to an international audience. She also properly introduced me to the mechanisms of international film markets. As a grand dame of the international promotion scene, she was always present without ever trying to take centre stage, always with a friendly smile that invited us to exchange ideas with her.  SWISS FILMS and Swiss filmmaking are indebted to her for her gentle yet adroit nudges in the right direction that supported the worldwide success of Swiss films."

Christian Frei, Filmmaker and Producer:

Francine Brücher (January 26, 1943 – May 6, 2020): The Grande Dame of Swiss film promotion has passed away in Munich

“Francine made a substantial contribution to the international career of numerous Swiss films. She literally took us by the hand and led us into the throng and hullabaloo of film festivals and film markets. Amid all the excitement and buzz, she was a remarkable and invaluable anachronism with her calm equanimity, with her passion and persistence.

Francine Brücher was the soul of Swiss film promotion, a cosmopolite far from any provinciality. She did a world of good for Swiss cinema. Her countless number of contacts and friendships contributed significantly to the fact that our films became known, found international distributors and were invited to festivals. So much dedication needs a motor – and Francine's source was her love for film and filmmakers.

Francine was of German and French nationality. After working as a language teacher in Hamburg and New York, she began her career in the film business in 1972. It was the great time of German auteur film and, as world sales manager, she was right in the middle of it: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Wim Wenders, Werner Herzog, Alexander Kluge. In 1986 she became sales manager for Metropolis Film in Zurich. After a year's break in Guadeloupe, she managed the film market in Locarno as of 1994 and worked for various film festivals. In 1997 she joined the Swiss Film Center as its sales and marketing consultant. In 2004 the Swiss Film Center merged with SWISS FILMS, with Francine as the head of international promotion. She continued to work on a mandate basis for a few years after her retirement at the end of 2010.

Being a pensioner was not easy for her, particularly due to an additional challenge: the cancer diagnosis seven years ago. Together with her son Jérôme, however, she was able to experience a fulfilled and happy time in Munich.

Francine... ...we miss you. Thank you for your tremendous commitment.”

Mischa Schiwow, former director of SWISS FILMS:

A glass for Francine

"Cinema was Francine's world: more precisely, art-house cinema, the films and those who make them. She was from France, from the heart of Berry, and lived in Munich and Zurich, dedicating fifteen years to Swiss cinema without ever holding the red passport. For Francine belonged to the world of cinema, the one that knows no borders, that unites people rather than dividing them. One should have seen how, in Berlin or Cannes or the major festivals around the world, she moved through the crowd like a fish in water. She knew everyone: the filmmakers, the festival directors, the press agents ... it was impressive to follow her for an evening from one reception to another and to realize that everyone was greeting her. She knew them all by name and spoke to them in French, English or German, always recalling the language they had in common. For Francine, attending receptions was not just to see and be seen, as it is for others. She had a specific goal or an idea about a film, a young director or a young actor to discuss with her acquaintances. She took visible pleasure in picking up a conversation wherever it had been left off at the last meeting in a different place. Always, she loved having a glass of champagne to toast to friendship and the shared love of cinema.

I was fortunate to be able to accompany her, to benefit from her knowledge and her innumerable acquaintances. I was able to admire her gift for putting those people who were destined to know her at ease. I was bowled over by her intuition and her art of divining which ideas would click with a person she had known for just an instant. Francine was indefatigable: often, just having returned from a festival across the Atlantic, she would depart again on the same day for another one, on the other side of the planet. Francine loved to travel, especially by airplane, as much as she loved the pleasure of a glass of champagne. So much so, that it would sometimes set people talking: under their breaths, they would accuse her of doing nothing but party tourism. What ignorance! They had no idea how much effort those trips represented for this older woman, the constant focus – which sometimes, without her complaining, brought her to exhaustion. Francine gave without hesitation, she dedicated herself passionately to those tours as a 'sales representative' of Swiss cinema at a time when no one was giving much to our cinematography. With conviction and love for both the works and the filmmakers, she gave herself completely to her mission. The famous ascent of the steps by Daniel Schmid in Cannes, flanked by Martin Suter and Géraldine Chaplin, to present Beresina or The Last Days of Switzerland: she was the artisan of that, if not the little hand that arranged everything. The first steps of young producers on the international festival scene? That was Francine again, who took them by the hand, arranged appointments and introduced them to the seasoned professionals they would never have dared to imagine approaching. The presentation of a Swiss film at the Locarno festival: who, if not Francine, could talk about it with more conviction and passion?

Francine could not live without the cinema: her vacations, of course, were dedicated to festivals located off the beaten path, and when she found herself on holiday in Miami, usually towards the end of the year, she was always eager to meet with her creative friends based in America. After leaving Swiss Films at the same time I did, at the end of 2012, Francine never stopped watching films, invited as an advisor and member of the jury at prestigious festivals, but also keeping up with the latest films in the art houses of her city, Munich. I saw her again last year at the Zurich Festival, animated as always by her curiosity and thirst for the cinema. Alas, that evening there was no champagne to be had.

Let us all, friends and colleagues, raise a glass to the memory of Francine."