Strong presence for Swiss filmmaking in Asia

Two Swiss film productions will be screened in competition at the renowned Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival (October 6-13, 2011).

05.10.2011

Two Swiss film productions will be screened in competition at the renowned Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival (October 6-13, 2011). The festival is only held every two years and ranks as the most important festival for non-fiction films in Asia. At the same time, seven Swiss film productions will be presented at the 16th Busan International Film Festival (October 6-14, 2011). This festival in South Korea is one of the most important platforms in Asia for art-house films from all over the world. Thanks to support from SWISS FILMS, Rolando Colla, Heidi Specogna, Frédéric Choffat, Siu Pham and Jean-Luc Mello will attend the festival in Busan, while Vadim Jendreyko attends the festival in Yamagata.

Screened in this year's festival selection in Busan are two feature films which celebrated their premieres in Venice - Rolando Colla's "Summer Games" and "Un été brûlant" by French director Philippe Garrel (coproduction: Prince Film) - and two films which premiered in Locarno - "Carte Blanche" by Heidi Specogna and "Mangrove" by Frédéric Choffat and Julie Gilbert. In addition, the film "Ici...ou là-bas?" by Vietnamese director Siu Pham and Swiss director Jean-Luc Mello will celebrate its world premiere in the Asia Competition. Furthermore, the Swiss coproduction "Los pasos dobles" by Spanish director Isaki Lacuesta (coproducer: Bord Cadre Films), which won an award in San Sebastian, and Pascal Verdosci's feature film "Manipulation" will round off the strong Swiss presence in South Korea.

The film "Day is Done" by Thomas Imbach, which has been invited to numerous festivals, and Vadim Jendreyko's multi-award-winning film "Die Frau mit den 5 Elefanten" will participate in the International Competition at the 12th Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival. The 1,078 entries submitted to the festival underwent a rigorous selection procedure, with only 15 films chosen for competition. Jendreyko will present his film personally in Yamagata. In the past 22 years, only six other Swiss film productions have made the selection for the competition of this prestigious festival in Japan. Fernand Melgar's "La forteresse" was honoured with the Award of Excellence at the last festival in 2009.

Zurich, October 5, 2011

 

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