Swiss Film Award 2023

A PIECE OF SKY celebrated its premiere with a screening in the 2022 Berlinale Competition, where it received an Honourable Mention from the jury – the first of numerous international awards. The drama set in the Swiss Alps was shot with amateur actors and produced by Christof Neracher (hugofilm features). The award for Best Documentary Film went to Elena Avdija’s STUNTWOMEN and her producers Agnieszka Ramu and Marie-Lou Pahud at Bande à part Films. The film portraying three stunt women was honoured with a Golden Eye at the Zürich Film Festival.

BECOMING A BLACK WOMAN (JE SUIS NOIRES) by Rachel M’Bon and Juliana Fanjul (Produktion Akka Films; Palmyre Badinier, Philippe Coeytaux, Nicolas Wadimoff) won the award for Best Short Film. The 52-minute documentary film sheds light on structural racism and deep-seated prejudices in Switzerland from the perspective of Black women.

The award for Best Animated Film went to THE RECORD by Jonathan Laskar (Papier perforé / Punched paper films, Sophie Laskar-Haller, Jonathan Laskar). The short film’s impressive festival career began with the award for Best First Feature at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Morgane Frund’s film BEAR won the award for Best Graduation Film. Her graduation film at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts HSLU – Video Department was screened in the Berlinale Shorts Competition in February.

Three prizes for Ursula Meier's LA LIGNE

Ursula Meier’s feature film THE LINE was honoured with awards in three categories: Stéphanie Blanchoud as Best Actress and 14-year-old young talent Elli Spagnolo as Best Supporting Actress. Stéphanie Blanchoud, Ursula Meier and Antoine Jaccoud jointly received the award for Best Screenplay. THE LINE, produced by Bandita Films (Max Karli, Pauline Gygax), celebrated its world premiere with a screening in the 2022 Berlinale Competition.

THUNDER wins twice

Two awards went to Carmen Jaquier’s directorial debut THUNDER (Close Up Films, Flavia Zanon): to Nicolas Rabaeus for Best Film Score and to Carlos Ibañez-Diaz and Denis Séchaud for Best Sound. The historical coming-of-age drama celebrated its premiere at the renowned Toronto Film Festival and subsequently screened at the festivals in San Sebastian, Busan, Zurich and Thessaloniki, among others.

The award for Best Actor went to Manfred Liechti for his performance in the leading role in PETER K. – ALONE AGAINST THE STATE by Laurent Wyss (Insertfilm, Badlandfilms; Pedro Haldemann, Julien Grindat, Patrick Fluri). Silvan Hillman was honoured with the award for Best Cinematography in UNREST by Cyril Schäublin (Seeland Filmproduktion; Linda Vogel, Michela Pini). Karine Sudan won the award for Best Editing in the documentary film (IM)MORTALS by Lila Ribi (maximage; Brigitte Hofer, Cornelia Seitler).

Special Awards

This year’s Special Academy Award went to the acting coaches Barbara Fischer and Giles Foreman. The Swiss Film Academy wishes to pay tribute “to their remarkable achievements in this years films such as SEMRET and UNE HISTOIRE PROVISOIRE, as well as their contribution with expertise, imagination and sensitivity to over 30 features and 5 television series all across Switzerland.”

Swiss producer Ruth Waldburger received the Swiss Film Academy’s 2023 Honorary Swiss Film Award for her for her lifetime achievement.

The Swiss Film Awards ceremony took take place at the Bâtiment des Forces Motrices in Geneva on Friday, March 24, 2023. This honouring of Swiss filmmaking is realised by the Federal Office of Culture FOC, together with its partners SRG SSR and Association “Quartz” Genève Zürich, and organized in collaboration with SWISS FILMS, the Swiss Film Academy and the Solothurn Film Festival.

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All winners of the Swiss Film Award 2023:

Best Feature Film: A PIECE OF SKY by Michael Koch (hugofilm features GmbH, Christof Neracher)

Best Documentary Film: STUNTWOMEN by Elena Avdija (Bande à part Films Sàrl, Agnieszka Ramu, Marie-Lou Pahud)

Best Short Film: BECOMING A BLACK WOMAN by Juliana Fanjul, Rachel M’Bon (Akka Films Sàrl, Palmyre Badinier, Philippe Coeytaux, Nicolas Wadimoff)

Best Animated Film: THE RECORD by Jonathan Laskar (Papier perforé / Punched paper films, Sophie Laskar-Haller, Jonathan Laskar)

Best Graduation Film: BEAR by Morgane Frund (HSLU Video Department)

Best Actor: Manfred Liechti (Peter K.) in PETER K. – ALONE AGAINST THE STATE

Best Actress: Stéphanie Blanchoud (Margaret) in THE LINE

Best Supporting Actress / Best Supporting Actor: Elli Spagnolo (Marion) in THE LINE

Best Screenplay: THE LINE – Stéphanie Blanchoud, Ursula Meier, Antoine Jaccoud

Best Film Score: THUNDER – Nicolas Rabaeus

Best Sound: THUNDER – Carlos Ibañez-Diaz, Denis Séchaud

Best Cinematography: UNREST – Silvan Hillman

Best Film Editing: (IM)MORTALS – Karine Sudan

Special Academy Award:
Barbara Fischer, Acting Coach
Giles Foreman, Acting Coach

Honorary Award
Ruth Waldburger, for her lifetime achievement as a producer