Two Swiss world premieres at Sundance Film Festival

SAUDI RUNAWAY, Susanne Regina Meures’ latest documentary film, tells the harrowing story of Muna, a young woman in Saudi Arabia. Tired of being controlled and incapacitated by the state and her family, Muna secretly begins filming and documenting her suffocating everyday life as well as her escape. The film shows unsettling images from within the most repressive patriarchy in the world.

Meures had already launched her first international festival and box-office success with her previous documentary film set in the Iranian desert, RAVING IRAN, about two Iranian DJs and the forbidden techno scene. The film was screened at countless international festivals and attained ticket sales of approximately 100,000 worldwide. Meures produced both RAVING IRAN and SAUDI RUNAWAY together with the Swiss film director and producer Christian Frei. Three films by the Oscar nominee – GENESIS 2.0. (2018), SPACE TOURISTS (2009) and THE GIANT BUDDHAS (2005) – already celebrated their world premieres in competition at the Sundance Film Festival.

Switzerland’s second festival entry also focuses on the fate and repression of a young woman in the Middle East. The fiction film drama YALDA, A NIGHT FOR FORGIVENESS by Iranian director Massoud Bakhshi tells yet another shocking story: Maryam, an Iranian woman who is sentenced to death for the alleged murder of her future husband and must plead for her life on a TV reality show. The Swiss coproduction with France, Germany and Luxemburg was coproduced with Joëlle Bertossa and Flavia Zanon (Close Up Films) and RTS. The production company thus seamlessly continues its international successes as the coproducer of THE SWALLOWS OF KABUL and MY ENGLISH COUSIN.

The Sundance Film Festival is one of the most important platforms for independent American and international productions. The complete programme will be published at the beginning of January. SWISS FILMS provides support and accompanies the world premiere of SAUDI RUNAWAY at Sundance.

Previous Swiss presence at Sundance Film Festival

Swiss film productions have been frequently screened at the Sundance Film Festival in recent years: apart from Christian Frei’s films, MA VIE DE COURGETTE was presented in the Kids section in 2017. In 2016 the Swiss coproduction SONITA (2015) was screened in the Documentary Film Competition and honoured with the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award. Screened at the Sundance Film Festival prior to that were, among others, AN AFRICAN ELECTION by Jarreth and Kevin Merz (2010), PEPPERMINTA by Pippilotti Rist (2009) and ANGRY MONK (2005) by Luc Schaedler.

SWISS FILMS, December 4, 2019

Three Swiss projects in the New Frontier section

The New Frontier section at the Sundance Film Festival will present 32 projects from 21 countries, works created through the new convergences of film, art and technology. Three projects from Switzerland have made this year’s curated selection of innovative, experimental works.

DANCE TRAIL by Swiss choreographer Gilles Jobin comprises dance performances realised as augmented reality. Users interact with virtual dancers, enabling miniature and megagiant dancers to break out of the headset to dance in the streets, on top of buildings or in the palm of your hand.
Lead Artists: Gilles Jobin, Camilo De Martino, Tristan Siodlak, Susana Panades Diaz.

AFTER THE FALLOUT by Swiss photojournalist Dominic Nahr takes viewers into the exclusion zone 10 years after the nuclear disaster in Fukushima. The virtual-reality work has been conceived as a 360-degree experience and immersive mosaic.  
Lead Artists: Sam Wolson, Dominic Nahr / USA, Schweiz.

GO is a symbiosis of literature and virtual reality that combines a book reading with virtual immersion. Based on a novella by Klaus Merz, GO visualizes a spoken narrative about a man who sets out on a hike in the Swiss Alps – like dreaming with your eyes wide open.

Lead Artists: Sandro Zollinger, Roman Vital, Klaus Merz

SWISS FILMS, January 21, 2020