Swiss documentaries: releases and presentation at festivals in France
The film "Vol spécial" by Fernand Melgar, awarded the «Quartz 2012» for Best Documentary last Saturday, will be released in France on March, 28th – together with "La Forteresse", Melgar’s previous film, which also deals with asylum practices and deportation procedures in Switzerland.
21.03.2012
In her film, director Valérianne Poidevin, who graduated at ECAL Lausanne, portrays her uncle on a trip in a lorry. Having wanted to be an actor, he now drives lorries as a living, wearing sunglasses and cowboy boots. "L’oiseau sans pattes" is the fifth documentary of the Lausanne film production company Box Productions run by Elena Tatti and Thierry Spicher, who also produced feature films such as Ursula Meier’s film "Home".
Also based in Lausanne is Climage, a group of authors and producers who produced all of Fernand Melgar’s films and were awarded the «Quartz 2012» for "Vol spécial" on March 17th. "Vol spécial" also received two other prizes last week: the Grand Prix at One World Film Festival in Prague (6th to 15th March), and the students’ jury’s prize at the 10th International Human Rights Film Festival of Paris (6th to 13 March). More than 50 film festivals all over the world have shown "Vol spécial" since its first release at the Locarno competition; it has won nine international awards.
Various French human rights organisations such as France Terre d’Asile will be supporting the French film distributor Dissidenz Distribution with the release of "Vol spécial" and "La Forteresse" in French cinemas on March 28th.
Zurich, 21 March 2012