Venice 2021: Extensive Swiss line-up at the Lido

The festival’s Out of Competition section will present the Italian-Swiss-French coproduction ARIAFERMA by Leonardo di Costanzo. Amka Films Productions has already coproduced several films by the Italian director, most recently INTRUSA, which celebrated its premiere in Cannes in 2017.

The Swiss production company Bord Cadre films with producer Dan Wechsler participated in the feature film by Bolivian director Kiro Russo, EL GRAN MOVIMIENTO, which will compete in the Orizzonti section.

Immersive cave trip

The Venice VR Expanded competition section presents works that are realised as virtual reality. The Swiss short film CAVES by Carlos Isabel Garcia is among the 23 competition entries. The 360° documentary film accompanies the speleologist Lea Odermatt on her journeys beneath the earth’s surface into a world to which otherwise only researchers have access. The film was produced by Franziska Sonder at Ensemble Film, whose short film DAS SPIEL celebrated its world premiere at the Lido last year, launching a successful international festival career.

The film MOTHER LODE by Italian director Matteo Tortone will celebrate its premiere in the Settimana Internazionale della Critica, an independent parallel section organised by the Union of Italian Film Critics. The coproduction between France, Italy and Switzerland (C-Side Productions, Benjamin Poumey) tells the fate of a young gold prospector in the Peruvian Andes.

One feature and three documentaries to be screened in Giornate degli Autori

Giornate degli Autori, the parallel section dedicated to auteur cinema, will screen the French-Belgian-Swiss coproduction MADELEINE COLLINS by French director Antoine Barraud in the Official Selection. The feature film tells the story of a woman’s complicated double life as a wife and mother between France and Switzerland. The film was coproduced by Close Up Films in Geneva.

The only non-Italian film in the Venetian Nights programme is HUGO IN ARGENTINA by Stefano Knuchel, produced by Fiumi Film (Vittoria Fiumi). The documentary film by the Ticinese director portrays the life of the Italian cartoonist Hugo Pratt, who became famous for his character Corto Maltese.

Also selected for the Venetian Nights programme are two Italian-Swiss documentaries: CAVEMAN by Tommaso Landucci portraying the work of sculptor Filippo Dobrilla, coproduced by Contrast Film (Ivan Madeo); and FELLINI E L'OMBRA by Catherine McGilvrey, coproduced by Célestes Images (Samanta Gandolfi Branca), which explores the connection between the life and work of Federico Fellini and Jungian analytical psychology.

Both CAVEMAN and ARIAFERMA were also selected for the Queer Lion section, which showcases films with queer themes from the festival programme.

Swiss projects at the Gap Financing Market

The three-day industry event Venice Gap-Financing Market (September 3-5) provides selected projects with the opportunity to secure international financing through personal networking with international industry representatives.

There are four films by Swiss production companies among the invited projects: the feature films ELECTRIC CHILD by Simon Jaquemet (production: 8horses GmbH) and RETOUR EN ALEXANDRIE by Tamer Ruggli (Tipi'mages Productions); as well as the coproduced documentary films THE SECRET OF PLACES by Wim Wenders about the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor (production: Road Movies) and FACING DARKNESS by Jean-Gabriel Periot (France, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Switzerland, Germany).

SWISS FILMS, August 27, 2021