Swiss films abroad: highlights and discoveries 2019

From Berlin to Toronto: new names from Switzerland

Two Swiss debut films kicked off the 2019 international festival year at the Berlinale: AFRICAN MIRROR by Mischa Hedinger (ton und bild GmbH) and BARACOA by Pablo Briones (C-Side Productions). WHERE WE BELONG, Jacqueline Zünd’s most recent documentary film (real Film GmbH), also celebrated its world premiere in Berlin. The Swiss-French dual citizen and former ECAL graduate Blaise Harrison presented his highly acclaimed first feature film LES PARTICULES in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs in Cannes. The film was coproduced with France by Bande à part Films in Lausanne.

The Swiss-Portuguese HEAD graduate Basil da Cunha also attained international success in 2019. His second feature film O FIM DO MUNDO (Thera Production) celebrated its premiere in the International Competition in Locarno and was subsequently screened at the festivals in Busan and Sao Paulo, among others. The Ticinese fiction film LOVE ME TENDER by Klaudia Reynicke (Amka Films Productions) also launched its festival career at the Locarno Film Festival. The Swiss-Peruvian director drew international attention with her second film and an unconventional, compelling female perspective. Her film was screened at the Toronto Film Festival TIFF, the BFI London Film Festival, the AFI Fest in L.A. and at the Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn.

CRONOFOBIA (Imagofilm Lugano) was yet another film from Italian-speaking Switzerland that experienced a notable festival career: Francesco Rizzi’s debut film was honoured with the award for Best Director and Best Screenplay at the Film Festival Max Ophuels Prize in Saarbrücken and ran in more than 25 festivals worldwide. The Swiss-Belgian coproduction LE MILIEU DE L'HORIZON by Box Productions in Lausanne celebrated its world premiere in the New Directors Competition at the San Sebastián Film Festival. The director Delphine Lehericey travelled to Taiwan in November to present her second fiction film featured in the Swiss Focus programme initiated by SWISS FILMS at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival. Also screened in the same programme was the film MADAME, which had premiered in Nyon. The personal documentary film by Stéphane Riethauser (Lambda Prod) from Geneva has had a dazzling international festival career and Is currently showing in cinemas in Germany.

Close Up Films – a Genevan success story

Close Up Films, a Geneva-based production company, showed a particularly momentous and remarkable international line-up in 2019. Joëlle Bertossa and Flavia Zanon are coproducers of LES HIRONDELLES DE KABOUL. The animation film celebrated its premiere in Cannes, was successfully launched in European cinemas and nominated for a European Film Award and the Prix Lumière. Their minority coproduction, the documentary film ADVOCATE, celebrated its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and has been honoured with several awards.

After celebrating its world premiere in Locarno, the documentary film L’ÎLE AUX OISEAUX by Maya Kosa and Sergio Da Costa produced by Close Up Films was subsequently screened at the festivals in San Sebastián, Leipzig and Montreal, among others. And lastly, the successful producer duo presented MON COUSIN ANGLAIS, the second film by the Swiss-Algerian director Karim Sayad, at TIFF Docs. In the new year Close Up Films will continue to make a name for itself with maverick films: already in January their latest minority coproduction YALDA, A NIGHT FOR FORGIVENESS by the Iranian director Massoud Bakhshi will celebrate its world premiere in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival.

International box-office figures: HEIDI conquers China

According to initial provisional figures, the international data analyst Comscore reports approximately 1.6 million ticket sales abroad for films with Swiss participation in 2019. The Swiss mega-hit HEIDI (Zodiac Pictures) alone contributed to more than 700,000 admissions with its theatrical release in China. The Swiss-German coproduction - starring the late Bruno Ganz, Switzerland’s world star who passed away in 2019, in the role of Alpöhi - has been sold in over 100 countries since its launch at the end of 2015 and is considered the most successful Swiss film of all time.

The animation film LES HIRONDELLES DE KABOUL, coproduced by Close Up Films, has already attained ticket sales of roughly 320,000 in France since its release at the beginning of September. With sales of over 175,000 in France, Antoine Russbach from French-speaking Switzerland has achieved noteworthy success with his debut film CEUX QUI TRAVAILLENT. Barbara Miller’s #FEMALE PLEASURE was the most internationally successful Swiss documentary film in 2019. Since its release in 2018, it has been screened in cinemas in Germany, Austria, Spain and France.

The cinema successes mentioned above were achieved in an extremely difficult market environment. The cinema market is undergoing major changes and, as in previous years, is struggling with marked declines in ticket sales. Key figures for Swiss films on international VOD platforms are virtually unobtainable. Nevertheless, noteworthy news has been reported: for example, in 2019 the US streaming service Netflix acquired the world rights for the Swiss comedy WOLKENBRUCH by Michael Steiner. Also in 2019, Close Up Films announced the sale of the rights to OF SHEEP AND MEN by Karim Sayad for the North American market to Amazon.

Swiss short films: festival hits and a Student Academy Award

Short films from Switzerland enjoy an excellent international reputation and regularly attract attention at major festival around the globe: for example, the short documentary ALL INCLUSIVE by Corina Schwingruber Ilić (freihändler Filmproduktion) in 2019. This festival hit celebrated its world premiere in Venice in 2018 and was screened in the Short Film Competition at the Sundance Film Festival in 2019. Schwingruber is currently working on her feature debut.

Swiss animation filmmaking shone in 2019 once again with outstanding shorts: LE DERNIER JOUR D'AUTOMNE by Marjolaine Perreten (Nadasdy Film) and KIDS (Playables) by Michael Frei celebrated world premieres at the Berlinale and went on to establish a festival career around the globe. KIDS has been screened at more than 100 festivals and honoured with numerous international awards. SELFIES by Claudius Gentinetta (Gentinettafilm) has also had an outstanding festival career.

Two Swiss short films were selected for the Short Cuts Competition at the TIFF in Toronto: WARUM SCHNECKEN KEINE BEINE HABEN, an animation film by Aline Höchli (Cinéma Copain), as well as the HSLU graduation film NACHTS SIND ALLE KATZEN GRAU by Lasse Linder, which won the Short Cuts Award for Best Short Film.

Finally, the Swiss-American director Zoel Aeschbacher was honoured with a Gold Medal for his short fiction film BONOBO in the Narrative, International Film Schools category at the Student Academy Awards in October. This marks the third time in a row that a Student Oscar has gone to Switzerland, following FACING MECCA (2017, Jan-Eric Mack, ZHDK) and FAST ALLES (2018, Lisa Gertsch, ZHdK) – and now the first time to an ECAL graduation film.

Swiss talents in international promotional programmes

Thanks to partnerships with European promotional initiatives, SWISS FILMS can propose Swiss filmmakers for participation in talent programmes. The aim of the programmes is to strengthen international networking and market access. 

And thanks to a new partnership with Cinemart in Rotterdam, producer Franziska Sonder (Ensemble Films) was able to participate in the Rotterdam Lab. Moreover, at the suggestion of SWISS FILMS, director Jorge Cadena was selected to participate in EFP’s Future Frames – Generation NEXT of European Cinema programme with his short film SOEURS JARARIJU (GoldenEggProduction) at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

Producer Sereina Gabathuler (Dschoint Ventschr) was selected for the EFP’s Producers on the Move programme in Cannes. Thanks to a closer partnership between SWISS FILMS and Marché du Film, four Swiss producers participated in the Producers Network Events: Noah Bohnert (Letterbox Collective Filmproduktion), Sarah Born (Catpics), Mauro Mueller (Fidelio Films) and Michela Pini (Cinédokké).

Three Swiss film projects were presented at the Torino Film Lab and honoured with a total of four awards: WILD ENCOUNTERS by Sarah Arnold (coproduction TWOSA Films);  MADAME by Dominik Locher (Maximage Filmproduktion, script: D. Locher, Lisa Brühlmann); as well as UNRUEH by Cyril Schäublin (Seeland Filmproduktion, Michela Pini). 

On behalf of the Federal Office of Culture, SWISS FILMS implements measures which bolster market opportunities and the visibility of Swiss film productions abroad. This review summarises the initial results for the year 2019. SWISS FILMS will present further results and figures at an information event at the Solothurn Film Festival and publish them online in its 2019 Annual Report at the beginning of June 2020.

SWISS FILMS, December 18, 2019