SWISS FILMS END-OF-THE-YEAR REVIEW - Switzerland’s film year 2018: strong festival presence and aspiring newcomers

Internationally, Swiss filmmaking got off to a promising start in 2018 at the Sundance Film Festival, the most important film festival in the USA, where GENESIS 2.0 by Christian Frei and Maxim Arbugaev was honoured with the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematography. And no less than nine Swiss films were screened at the prestigious International Film Festival Rotterdam IFFR in January 2018.

FORTUNA and ELDORADO: stirring migrant narratives from Switzerland in Berlin
Roughly one dozen films with Swiss participation were on the programme at the 68th Berlinale. Three of these celebrated their world premieres in competition, including DAUGHTER OF MINE by Laura Bispuri, coproduced by Bord Cadre Films. ELDORADO by Markus Imhoof (out of competition) received a Special Mention from the Amnesty International Jury in Berlin and was sent into the race as Switzerland’s official entry for a nomination of the 91st Academy Awards in the category of Foreign Language Film in August.

Ursula Meier and Lionel Baier presented their feature films from the SHOCK WAVES series in the Panorama section. FORTUNA, the second feature film by the young director Germinal Roaux, was screened in the Generation 14+ section and honoured with the Grand Prix of the International Jury for Best Film and the Crystal Bear of the Youth Jury for Best Film. The Swiss-Rwandan short film IMFURA by Samuel Ishimwe won the Silver Bear in the Berlinale Shorts.

Matthias Huser was selected as one of the ten screenplay writers for the Script Station 2018 programme of Berlinale Talents with his second feature film project THE JUNGLE, produced by 8horses, and was also able to participate in the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum in San Sebastian as well as in the Proyetas programme at the Ventana Sur Market in Buenos Aires in 2018. Aside from that, two promising Swiss actresses were in the limelight at the Berlinale: Luna Wedler (EFP Shooting Star) and Ella Rumpf (Variety Showcase’s “10 Europeans to watch in 2018”).

Three coproductions in competition in Cannes and a Palme d’Or
Three Swiss coproductions were selected for the prestigious competition at the 71st Festival de Cannes: Jean-Luc Godard’s THE IMAGE BOOK, which was honoured with the Palme d’Or Spéciale; HAPPY AS LAZZARO by Alice Rohrwacher, coproduced by Amka Films Productions, won the award for Best Screenplay; and KNIFE + HEART by Yann Gonzalez, coproduced by Garidi Films. Two Swiss productions were screened in the Semaine de la Critique programme: CHRIS THE SWISS, the debut film by the animation filmmaker Anja Kofmel; and the short film SCHÄCHER by the talented director Flurin Giger. Giger was also selected for the Next Step Workshop 2018 to develop his first feature film. The workshop is organised by the Semaine de la Critique in collaboration with the TorinoFilmLab. Furthermore, Swiss filmmaker Ursula Meier presided over the jury for the Caméra d’Or awarded to best first feature film in Cannes.

Notable emerging directors in Venice, Toronto and San Sebastián
A number of young talented directors from Switzerland presented their new films at the renowned festivals in Venice, Toronto and San Sebastián: the film ALL INCLUSIVE by Corina Schwingruber Ilić launched its successful festival career in Venice and Toronto; PEARL, the debut film by Swiss director Elsa Amiel was screened in the Giornate degli Autori section in Venice. Simon Jaquemet’s THE INNOCENT was the first Swiss film to compete for the TIFF ‘18 Toronto Platform Prize. Immediately thereafter, the feature film was screened in the main competition in San Sebastián. The short film THOSE WHO DESIRE by Elena López Riera was also screened in Toronto and San Sebastián, and Hannes Baumgartner’s debut film MIDNIGHT RUNNER celebrated its premiere there in the New Directors section.

Furthermore, Cyril Schäublin’s THOSE WHO ARE FINE and Nicole Vögele’s CLOSING TIME attracted a great deal of attention at international film festivals.THOSE WHO ARE FINE was screened at numerous festivals, won multiple awards and received a nomination for the European Film Awards in the category of European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI 2018. In addition, the film was selected for several VOD platforms and ran on MUBI, Filmatique and ArteKinoFestival. CLOSING TIME by Nicole Vögele was honoured with the Special Jury Award at the Locarno Festival (Cineasti del presente) and screened in Amsterdam in the IDFA Competition for First Appearance at the most important documentary film festival.

Swiss short films continue successful course in 2018
For the third time in the last five years a short film from the ZHdK won at the Student Academy Awards 2018: ALMOST EVERYTHING by Lisa Gertsch won the Silver Medal in the Narrative category (International Film Schools) and is thus also eligible to compete for the 91st Academy Awards. A total of eight short film productions from Switzerland were eligible for an Oscar nomination this year, including the animation film INTIMITY, which was screened at the Sundance Film Festival, COYOTE, which celebrated its premiere at the Berlinale, BLACKJACK, which was selected for EFP’s Future Frames programme in Karlovy Vary, as well as the multi-award-winning short documentary BLACK LINE.

This year two short films were also nominated for the European Film Awards in the European Short Film 2018 category: THOSE WHO DESIRE by Elena López Riera and the coproduction I SIGNED THE PETITION by Mahdi Fleifel.

International box-office entries
The international data analyst Comscore reported approximately 1.6 million ticket sales abroad for films with Swiss participation in 2018.* Successful this year, however, were the coproduction HAPPY AS LAZZARO by Alice Rohrwacher, with ticket sales amounting to approximately 230,000 in ten European countries, and the Swiss documentary film #FEMALE PLEASURE by Barbara Miller, with about 50,000 admissions in Germany and Austria. Until now FORTUNA by Germinal Roaux has already had more than 36,000 admissions in France, while MY BELOVED ENEMY by Denis Rabaglia has already attained 55,000 in Italy. The most successful cinema film with Swiss participation in 2018 was POPE FRANCIS. The Swiss coproduction with minority participation by Wim Wenders garnered ticket sales of over 750,000 in Europe, North and Latin America.

*Corrigendum:
The section on the international box office figures for films with Swiss participation in 2018 is unfortunately incomplete. The figures for the German-Swiss coproduction THE LITTLE WITCH by Michael Schaerer (Claussen+Putz Filmproduktion, Zodiac Pictures) are missing. The film has been very successful in German-speaking countries. Updated figures on international admissions will follow in January 2019. (21.12.2018)

Switzerland as guest country in Clermont-Ferrand and Montreal
SWISS FILMS was present in the following countries with film programmes in 2018: Spain, France, Denmark, Belgium, Poland, Israel, Canada, USA, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, South Korea and China. At the beginning of the year Switzerland was featured as the guest country with over 40 short films at the world’s leading short film festival in Clermont-Ferrand. The festival honoured, among others, Georges Schwizgebel, Peter Volkart and Rolando Colla with retrospectives. Swiss filmmaking also generated a programme focus at Festival Cinemania in Montreal, for example, with an extensive retrospective of Ursula Meier’s works. Peter Mettler was the Artist in Focus at the CPH:DOX documentary film festival in Copenhagen.

New industry activities and expected film starts for 2019
SWISS FILMS continued to expand its industry activities this year. For instance, the promotion agency additionally invited international festival delegates and buyers to an exclusive Market Preview at the Zurich Film Festival 2018, as well as to new Market Preview events at the Visions du Réel International Documentary Film Festival in Nyon and at the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur. In the increasingly competitive environment, the aim of this activity is to arouse interest among international distributors and sales for new Swiss productions at an early stage. Furthermore, SWISS FILMS was present with a stand for the first time at the film market (Mifa) of the world’s most important animation film festival in Annecy this year and was able to forge a new partnership with the renowned TorinoFilmLab for the ScriptLab 2019. This guarantees participation for a Swiss project.

A number of promising Swiss films are in post-production, including BAGHDAD IN MY SHADOW by Samir, BEAST by Lorenz Merz, MARE by Andrea Štaka, O FIM DO MONDO by Basil Da Cunha, PARADISE WAR by Niklaus Hilber and WHERE WE BELONG by Jacqueline Zünd. Moreover, numerous film programmes organised by SWISS FILMS are in the pipeline for 2019, with screenings in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea over the next two years.

On behalf of the Federal Office of Culture, SWISS FILMS implements measures which bolster market opportunities and the visibility of Swiss film productions abroad.