Georges Schwizgebel – Virtuoso of Moving Images
26.07.2004
One of the most important representatives of Swiss animated filmmaking, Geneva resident Georges Schwizgebel, will be paid tribute to at this year’s 57th Locarno International Film Festival. “La jeune fille et les nuages” (The young girl and the clouds), which was awarded the Swiss Film Prize in 2002, will be shown on Sunday, August 8 on the prestigious Piazza Grande. On the same day, Schwizgebel’s latest work “L’homme sans ombre” (Man without a shadow), a Swiss-Canadian co-production, screens as part of the Appellations Suisse series. This significant acknowledgement coincides with the publication of a book about the artist and an exhibit in Geneva where the artist lives and works.
For more than thirty years, Georges Schwizgebel’s images have won over the audience from movie and television screens around the world. With marked brushstrokes, he paints directly onto acetate film. Fourteen images per one second of the movie… amount to his total work of almost 20 short films. “The grand seigneur of Swiss animated film” (Florian Keller in the Zurich Tagesanzeiger newspaper) has created classics of contemporary animated cartoons such as “The Flight of Ikarus “ (1974), "Off-side” (1977), "The Ravishing of Frank N. Stein” (1982), "78 R.P.M” (1985), "The Subject of the Picture” (1989), "The Ride to the Abyss” (1992), and "La jeune fille et les nuages” (2000).
In the year of 2004, the independent filmmaker George Schwizgebel seems to be under a particularly good star: in addition to celebrating his 60th birthday on September 19th, he received awards for his latest movie "L’homme sans ombre” in Cannes and Zagreb. In this film, using his medium in the most masterful fashion, he skillfully and dramatically portrays the devil’s pact of Peter Schlemihl who trades his shadow for gold nuggets. This treatment makes Adalbert von Chamisso’s novel breathtakingly current.
For the first time, Schwizgebel’s ouevre will be documented in its entirety on a recently released DVD as well as in a book by Paris journalist Olivier Cotte. Written in three languages, it has recently been released: “Georges Schwizgebel – Die laufenden Farbbilder” published by Editions Heuwinkel in Carouge/Geneva*. Finally, from August 17 to September 25, 2004, an exhibit about the artist’s work will take place at the gallery Papier Gras in Geneva.
Geneva/Zurich, August 3, 2004
For more information about the screenings, the book, and the exhibit, please visit:
Editions Heuwinkel
22, rue de la Filature
CH-1227 Carouge/Genève
Fax 022/300 0071
e-mail: heuwinkel-edition@bluewin.ch
www.papiers-gras.com
*The author will sign the newly released book and will hold a discussion at the Libreria Locarnese at the Piazza Grande, Saturday, August 7th, and Sunday, August 8th, in the afternoons.
In the year of 2004, the independent filmmaker George Schwizgebel seems to be under a particularly good star: in addition to celebrating his 60th birthday on September 19th, he received awards for his latest movie "L’homme sans ombre” in Cannes and Zagreb. In this film, using his medium in the most masterful fashion, he skillfully and dramatically portrays the devil’s pact of Peter Schlemihl who trades his shadow for gold nuggets. This treatment makes Adalbert von Chamisso’s novel breathtakingly current.
For the first time, Schwizgebel’s ouevre will be documented in its entirety on a recently released DVD as well as in a book by Paris journalist Olivier Cotte. Written in three languages, it has recently been released: “Georges Schwizgebel – Die laufenden Farbbilder” published by Editions Heuwinkel in Carouge/Geneva*. Finally, from August 17 to September 25, 2004, an exhibit about the artist’s work will take place at the gallery Papier Gras in Geneva.
Geneva/Zurich, August 3, 2004
For more information about the screenings, the book, and the exhibit, please visit:
Editions Heuwinkel
22, rue de la Filature
CH-1227 Carouge/Genève
Fax 022/300 0071
e-mail: heuwinkel-edition@bluewin.ch
www.papiers-gras.com
*The author will sign the newly released book and will hold a discussion at the Libreria Locarnese at the Piazza Grande, Saturday, August 7th, and Sunday, August 8th, in the afternoons.