GOLIATH in the International Competition of the 70th Locarno Festival

Dominik Locher’s second fiction film GOLIATH (CognitoFilms) was selected for the International Competition. Sven Schelker stars in the leading role as a father-to-be who is gradually losing control over his life because of an anabolic addiction. Locher’s debut film TEMPO GIRL (2013) was screened at festivals in Hof, Rome, New York and Madrid, among others.

Denis Côté’s YOUR SKIN SO SOFT (TA PEAU SI LISSE) will also be screened in competition. The film was co-financed by the Genevan producer Joëlle Bertossa (Close Up Films). Bertossa also coproduced the documentary film I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO, which was nominated for the Oscar.

Competing in the Cineasti del presente is THOSE WHO ARE FINE (DENE WOS GUET GEIT, Seeland Filmproduktion, Amon Films). The debut film by Cyril Schäublin tells the story of a young call center employee in Zurich, who tricks old people into giving her money, by pretending to be their granddaughter. Schäublin participated in the Filmmakers Academy in Locarno in 2013.

THE SONG OF SCORPIONS on the Piazza Grande
Two Swiss film productions will be screened on the Piazza Grande: Kevin Merz’s GOTTHARD – ONE LIFE, ONE SOUL (Amka Films Productions) about the Swiss hard-rock band Gotthard; and Anup Singh’s THE SONG OF SCORPIONS, produced by Saskia Vischer (Feather Light Films) and Genevan Michel Merkt, who will be honoured in Locarno with the Raimondo Rezzonico Award as Best Independent Producer. Merkt has produced, among others, the international blockbuster films MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI, TONI ERDMANN and ELLE and worked together with such directors as David Cronenberg, Xavier Dolan and Miguel Gomes.

Six Swiss film productions will be screened in Fuori concorso. Celebrating their world premieres in this section are: WILLKOMMEN IN DER SCHWEIZ by Sabine Gisiger (Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion); CHOISIR A VINGT ANS by Villi Hermann (Imago Film); PIAZZA GRANDE by Misha Györik and Michael Beltrami (RSI); and PIETRA TENERA by Aurélie Mertenat (Terrain Vague). Barbet Schroeder’s THE VENERABLE W. (LE VENERABLE W., coproduction Bande à part Films) premiered in Cannes this year and will be screened out of competition in Locarno. Jean-Luc Godard’s GRANDEUR ET DECADENCE D’UN PETIT COMMERCE DE CINEMA will be presented in a newly restored digital version.

Eleven Swiss short films will be screened in the Pardi di domani national competition, while films by Jean-Marie Straub and Hans-Ulrich Schlumpf will be presented in the Histoire(s) du cinéma section.

Milo Rau’s DAS KONGO TRIBUNAL in the Semaine de la critique
This year two Swiss documentary films will be screened in the Semaine de la critique: against the backdrop of a tribunal in eastern Congo and Berlin, Milo Rau’s DAS KONGO TRIBUNAL (coproduction Langfilm) sheds light on the war that has gripped the country for almost 20 years; Samuel Chalard’s FAVELA OLYMPICA (Frédéric Gonseth Productions) portrays the power struggle between the Favéla Vila Autódromo residents and Rio’s mayor prior to the 2016 Olympic Games.

SWISS FILMS in Locarno
SWISS FILMS is present in Locarno this year with an Info Corner at the Palazzo Sopracenerina from Thursday, August 3 to Monday, August 7. Its communication and promotional activities serve to support the international launch of Swiss film productions screened in the festival programme.

In collaboration with the Locarno Festival and the Solothurn Film Festival, SWISS FILMS has selected ten Swiss film productions for the Panorama Suisse section. Petra Volpe’s blockbuster THE DIVINE ORDER (DIE GÖTTLICHE ORDNUNG, Zodiac Pictures) and Jean-Stéphane Bron’s latest film THE PARIS OPERA (L’OPÉRA DE PARIS, coproduction  Bande à part Films) among others, will be screened.

In addition, a high-calibre circle of international film critics - Pamela Jahn (Electric Sheep Magazine, ray Filmmagazin, Filmbulletin), Allan Hunter (Screen International), Boyd van Hoeij (The Hollywood Reporter) - will meet again this year with SWISS FILMS director Catherine Ann Berger for the Rendez-vous du cinéma suisse to discuss five Swiss productions on the current festival programme: GOLIATH, DENE WOS GUET GEIT, THE SONG OF SCORPIONS, THE CONGO TRIBUNAL and THE DIVINE ORDER (Monday, August 7, 2:30-3:30 p.m., Spazio RSI, Magnolia).

SWISS FILMS, July 12, 2017