Swiss Films at Festival del film Locarno: “Marija” and “La idea de un lago” in International Competition

Two Swiss productions in the Concorso internazionale
In Milagros Mumenthaler’s film “La idea de un lago”, a photographer in Argentina embarks on a personal quest in search of her family’s past. The Swiss coproduction is a collaboration between Alina Film in Geneva and Ruda cine in Buenos Aires. The Argentine-Swiss dual citizen Milagros Mumenthaler studied Film in Buenos Aires. Honoured with the Pardo d'oro with her fiction film debut “Abrir puertas y ventanas” in Locarno in 2011, she now returns to the festival with her second fiction film.

Michael Koch’s feature film debut “Marija” tells the story of a young Ukrainian woman in Dortmund who struggles to lead an independent and self-determined life ­– against all odds. Koch began his film career as actor in the leading role of the Swiss box-office hit “Achtung, fertig, Charlie!”, among others, and then attended the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. Since then he has made a name for himself as a film director with a number of internationally award-winning short films: for example, the short fiction film “Polar”, which was honoured with the German Short Film Award 2009. The German-Swiss coproduction “Marija” (Pandora Film Production, Cologne; Hugofilm Productions, Zurich; Little Shark Entertainment, Cologne) will also be screened in the International Competition.

Cineasti del presente with Klaudia Reynicke and Michele Pennetta
Competing in Cineasti del presente is the Swiss-Italian coproduction “Il nido” by Klaudia Reynicke (Amka Films Productions, Savosa, and Tempesta, Italy). The Peruvian-Swiss director studied at ECAL. In her fiction feature film debut she tells the story of a young woman who returns to her home village for a pilgrimage celebration, only to discover a dark secret from the past harboured by the village inhabitants. The Swiss film producer Cornelia Seitler (maximage) is a jury member in the Cineasti del presente section.

In his first feature-length documentary film “Pescatori di corpi” (Close Up Films, Geneva), film director Michele Pennetta follows the crew of an illegal fishing boat as they fatefully cross paths with a Syrian refugee off the coast of Sicily.

Frédéric Mermoud will celebrate the world premiere of his latest fiction film “Moka” by presenting it on the Piazza Grande. The Swiss-French coproduction by Bande à part Films in Lausanne and Diligence Films in Paris features the French stars Nathalie Baye and Emmanuelle Devos in the leading roles.

Three Swiss films will be screened in the Fuori concorso section: in his documentary film “Jean Ziegler – l'optimisme de la volonté”, Nicolas Wadimoff accompanies the Swiss sociologist and globalisation critic in Cuba. Jacob Berger’s filming of “Un juif pour l'exemple” is based on the novel of the same name by Jacques Chessex, with Bruno Ganz starring in the leading role. Xavier Koller’s fiction film “Reise der Hoffnung” celebrates 25 years since winning an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1991. His moving refugee drama – still highly topical – will be screened in a newly restored digital version.

Short Film Competition and Panorama Suisse
Twelve short films will be screened in the national competition Pardi di domani. The Swiss film director Nicolas Steiner (“Above And Below”) is a jury member for the Short Film Competition. The Panorama Suisse section presents eleven recent Swiss productions selected by the Solothurn Film Festival, the Swiss Film Academy and SWISS FILMS.

Semaine de la critique presents Heidi Specogna’s documentary film “Cahier africain”, which portrays the fate of 300 women and girls whose story about the armed conflict in Central African Republic is revealed in a small notebook filled with their courageous testimonies.

Presented in the Histoire(s) du cinéma section are newly restored digital versions of films by Clemens Klopfenstein (“Geschichte der Nacht”, 1979; “WerAngstWolf”, 2000) and the fantasy spy thriller “L’inconnu de Shandigor” by Jean-Louis Roy (1967), starring Serge Gainsbourg.

SWISS FILMS in Locarno
SWISS FILMS is present again this year during the Industry Days with a desk in the Piazza Grande Lounge (Friday, August 5 to Monday, August 8) to support the international launching of Swiss film productions on the festival programme with on-site promotional activities as well as within the general scope of the festival.

Invited by SWISS FILMS, a high-calibre of international film critics – Guy Lodge (Variety), Eric Kohn (Indiewire) and Carmen Gray (The Guardian, Screen, among others) – will meet with Catherine Ann Berger, managing director of SWISS FILMS, at the Rendez-vous du cinéma suisse to discuss four Swiss productions on the current festival programme: “Marija”; “Moka”; “Pescatori di corpi”; and “Aloys” from the Panorama Suisse section. (Tuesday, August 9, at 2:30 p.m., Spazio RSI, Magnolia)

The SWISS FILMS e-booklet provides detailed information about the Swiss film productions on the programme of Festival del film Locarno and will be published online on July 22.

> e-booklet Locarno 2016

SWISS FILMS, July 13, 2016