Numerous Swiss documentary films at major international festivals

Eva Vitija’s “Mein Leben als Film” will celebrate its world premiere in the International Programme at the 58^th DOK Leipzig, the International Festival for Documentary and Animated Film (October 26 – November 1, 2015). The film is a philosophical family story about filming and the attempt to capture life on film. Nicola Bellucci’s “Grozny Blues” will be screened in the same section and is one of the four Swiss contenders for a nomination in the EFA Documentary Selection. Furthermore, the triumphant Portuguese-Swiss-French coproduction “Volta à terra” by João Pedro Plácido will be screened in the Next Masters Competition in Leipzig and Delia Schiltknecht’s documentary film “Procedere:” in the International Short Film Competition.

Four Swiss documentary films will be screened in competition at the 39^th Duisburger Filmwoche (November 2-8): “Above and Below” by Nicolas Steiner; “Arlette. Mut ist ein Muskel.” by Florian Hoffmann; “Iraqi Odyssey” by Samir, Switzerland’s official entry in the running for an Oscar nomination at the 88^th Academy Awards; and “Thomas Hirschhorn – Gramsci Monument” by Angelo A. Lüdin. In collaboration with ARTE, the Duisburg festival will also present Alexander J. Seiler’s “Siamo italiani” (1964). According to the festival’s press spokesman Alexander Scholz, the Swiss film about Italian labour migrants can be regarded as a historical backdrop for quite a few films screened in this year’s competition in Duisburg. Moreover, the film offers the opportunity to reflect on dealings with migrants then and now.

An entire series of Swiss documentary films will also be screened at the prestigious documentary film festival CPH:DOX in Copenhagen (November 5-15). Eric Bergkraut’s “Citizen Khodorkovsky – Who Is Left To Take On Vladimir Putin?” will celebrate its world premiere in the F:ACT Award International Competition. This is already Bergkraut’s third film about Russia’s political landscape, following “Coca – The Dove From Chechnya – Europe In Denial Of A War” (2005) and “Letter To Anna – The Story Of Journalist Politkovskaya’s Death” (2008), both of which garnered him awards. The CPH:DOX Artists & Auteurs section will present “Dark Star – HR Gigers Welt” by Belinda Sallin, as well as the French-Swiss-German coproduction “Une jeunesse allemande” by Jean-Gabriel Périot. Furthermore, Stefan Schwietert’s “Imagine Waking Up Tomorrow And All Music Has Disappeared” will be screened in the Sound & Vision section, and “Das dunkle Gen” by Miriam Jakobs and Gerhard Schick in the Thematic Programme. Switzerland’s box-office hit “Above And Below” by Nicolas Steiner was selected for screening in the festival’s Top Dox section.

Concluding the festival year for the documentary genre is the most eminent and largest international film festival: the IDFA International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (November 18-29, 2016). Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami’s film “Sonita” was selected for the International Competition. The German-Swiss-Iranian coproduction provides insight into the life of an 18-year-old Afghan migrant living sans papier in Iran. She hopes to fulfil her dream career as a rapper as a way of escaping from her family, who is planning to sell her into a marriage with a husband she has never met.

In addition, “Grozny Blues” and “Une jeunesse allemande” will be screened in the Best of Fests section, and “Megacities” by Michael Glawogger, a Swiss coproduction with Austria (1998) in the Classics section. Stéphane Goël’s “Fragments du paradis” will be presented in the Masters Section, Stefan Schwietert’s “Imagine Waking Up Tomorrow And All Music Has Disappeared” in the Music Documentary section, “Moriom” by Francesca Scalisi and Mark Olexa in the Panorama section, and the short documentary film von Jela Hasler – “The Meadow” – in the Paradocs section. Screened in the Student Competition are Raphaël Dubach’s “Sempervirens” and Florian Hoffmann’s “Arlette. Mut ist ein Muskel.”, which celebrated its premiere in Nyon in 2015 and has now made the festival selections in both Duisburg and Amsterdam.

SWISS FILMS

October 20, 2015