Locarno 2019: multifaceted Swiss presence in the new artistic director’s first year

Just like Basil da Cunha’s previous films, the second feature-length fiction film O FIM DO MUNDO (Thera Production) by the Swiss-Portuguese director is set in the slum area of Reboleira on the outskirts of Lisbon. The authentic milieu-study features amateur actors and tells the story of Spirra, the young ne’er-do-well whose daily life is comprised of navigating violence, drugs and gangs. Da Cunha’s first feature film ATÉ VER A LUZ was screened in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs in Cannes in 2013.

The film L’ÎLE AUX OISEAUX (BIRD ISLAND; Close Up Films) by Maya Kosa and Sergio Da Costa can be discovered in the Cineasti del presente competition. In their second feature-length documentary film, the director duo accompanies a teenager who takes care of injured birds in an aviary as part of an integration programme. This is already the fifth joint production by Maya Kosa and Sergio Da Costa, both of whom studied at HEAD Geneva and whose film RIO CORGO was screened in the Forum in Berlin in 2016. Also competing in the Cineasti del presente is Klaudia Reynicke’s second fiction film LOVE ME TENDER (Amka Films Productions). The Italian actress Barbara Giordano plays a woman who is incapable of leaving her house because she suffers from agoraphobia.

Screened in the Fuori Concorso official selection is Samir’s new fiction film BAGHDAD IN MY SHADOW about the fate of Iraqis who live in exile in London, a coproduction by Dschoint Ventschr with Germany and Great Britain (world sales: Global Screen). The semi-documentary film WIR ELTERN (PARENTS; p.s. 72 productions) by the Swiss author Ruth Schweikert (screenwriter, director) and Eric Bergkraut (screenwriter, director, producer), starring three of their sons in the leading roles, will also be screened out of competition.

Major presence for a comedy on the Piazza Grande

The comedy DIE FRUCHTBAREN JAHRE SIND VORBEI (VAGENDA STORIES; Apéro Film) will celebrate its world premiere with a screening on the Piazza Grande as part of the Crazy Midnight programme. The film is about three women in their mid-30s grappling with their troubles in love and life. It is the directorial debut for the screenwriter Natascha Beller, who has made a name for herself with numerous TV series and comedy formats at Swiss Radio and Television (SRF).

Eleven Swiss short films will be screened in the Pardi di domani national competition, including works from the film schools HSLU, Head and Écal.

Two documentary films dealing with current controversial issues are presented in the Semaine de la critique parallel section: in the world premiere of SHALOM ALLAH (Dschoint Ventschr), director David Vogel takes a close look at Swiss who have converted to Islam and his own religious past. The German-Swiss coproduction ANOTHER REALITY by director duo Noël Dernesch and Olli Wildhauer (coproduced by CognitoFilms) portrays clan members living in a parallel society in German metropolises.

Pardo alla carriera for Fredi Murer

Swiss director, screenwriter and photographer Fredi M. Murer will be honoured this year with the Pardo alla carriera. On this occasion, the festival will screen four of his newly restored films as part of the Histoire(s) du cinéma series, including GRAUZONE (1979) and HÖHENFEUER (1985) and DER GRÜNE BERG (1990). Murer won a Golden Leopard in 1985 for HÖHENFEUER, which is regarded as one of the most outstanding Swiss films.

In collaboration with Cinémathèque Suisse, the Histoire(s) du cinéma will present the newly restored feature films CHARLES MORT OU VIF by Alain Tanner (1969) und LE GRAND SOIR by Francis Reusser (1976).

FUORI DALLE CORDE (2007) by Fulvio Bernasconi, who will receive the Premio Cinema Ticino as well as the over seven-hour film SATANTANGO by Hungarian director Béla Tarr (1994), coproduced by Vega Film in Zurich, will also screen as part of this programme.

SWISS FILMS in Locarno

In collaboration with the Solothurn Film Festival and the Swiss Film Academy, SWISS FILMS has selected eleven of Switzerland’s cinema or festival successes for the Panorama Suisse reprise series: six documentary films and four feature films, as well as the internationally acclaimed short film ALL INCLUSIVE by Corina Schwingruber Ilić. Also screened in this series will be the Swiss box office successes ZWINGLI by Stefan Haupt and WOLKENBRUCH by Michael Steiner, as well as the documentary films MADAME by Stéphane Riethauser (Visions du Réel, Nyon), BARACOA by Pablo Briones (Berlinale) and IMMER UND EWIG by Fanny Bräuning (DOK Leipzig).

This year SWISS FILMS will support the international launch of Swiss films screened in the festival programme once again with communication and promotional activities. It will be present with an Info Point in Palazzo Sopracenerina.

The 72^nd edition of the Locarno Film Festival takes place from August 7 - 17, 2019. The Swiss Federal Office of Culture SFOC will announce Switzerland’s official entry for the International Feature Film (formerly: Foreign Language Film) category of the Academy Awards at the festival on August 9.

SWISS FILMS, July 17, 2019