Docs Fall 2015

DOCS

FALL

TEAM

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Swiss Docs Fall 2015 Catherine Ann Berger Managing Director caberger@swissfilms.ch T +41 76 368 02 65

Documentary Films Feature Length – Completed 03 Documentary Films Shorts – Completed 10 Festival Favourites

Selina Willemse Head of Festivals & Markets swillemse@swissfilms.ch T +41 79 286 51 88

Aida Suljicic Head of Programmes & Festival Advisor asuljicic@swissfilms.ch T +41 77 431 87 79

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Documentary Films – Coming Soon 15 Documentary Films – In Production 23

COMPLETED

F E AT U R E L E N G T H

About Heaven Fragments du paradis

Stéphane Goël

Switzerland 2015, 85 min.

Original language: French World premiere: Festival del film Locarno 2015 Production Climage, Lausanne RTS Radio Télévision Suisse World Sales: Doc & Film International, Paris T +33 1 42 77 56 87 www.docandfilm.com

Switzerland is often perceived as heaven on earth. But do its inhabitants believe in heaven?

Believers, agnostics and atheists all feel the need for a narrative when confronting death.

What is left of paradise, which once promised eternal happiness? Encountering people in the twilight of their years, this film offers a moving, offbeat and personal quest within the depic­ tions of this place common to all of humanity, faced with hope and shared doubt.

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* 1965 in Lausanne. Stéphane Goël studied documentary filmmaking at Global Village Experimental Center in New York and collaborated with artists like Nam June Park and Shigeko Kubota. He directed several artistic and experi­mental videos before moving to documentaries. In 1985 he joined the producer's association Climage.

ABOUT HEAVEN will be presented at IDFA, November 2015 in the Masters Section.

COMPLETED

F E AT U R E L E N G T H

Citizen Khodorkovsky

– Who Is Left To Take On Vladimir Putin?

Eric Bergkraut

* 1957 in Paris. Lives in Switzerland since 1961, where he first studied acting at the Theatre Academy of Zurich and worked as an actor. In 1991 Bergkraut started making documentary films. After COCA, THE DOVE FROM CHECHNYA (2005), awarded with the International Human Rights Film Award Berlin 2006, and LETTER TO ANNA (2008), a personal investigation on Anna Politkovskaja’s death, honoured with the Vaclav Havel Award 2008, CITIZEN KHODORKOVSKY is Bergkraut’s third film on Russia.

Ten years in Russian penal colonies have marked Mikhail Khodorkovsky but could not break his spirits: Russian president Vladimir Putin might no longer see any threat in his former political prisoner but the exiled Khodorkovsky hopes that Putin is utterly mistaken. Unexpectedly set free Khodorkovsky left prision as a man with stronger inner freedom, dedicating all his energy, ideas and power to create another Russia – a Russia without Putin.

4

Switzerland 2015, 88 min.

Original languages: English / French / Russian World premiere: CHP:DOX Copenhagen 2015 Production: p.s. 72 productions GmbH, Zurich SRG SSR 3sat World Sales: Autlook Filmsales GmbH, Vienna T + 43 720 34 69 34 www.autlookfilms.com

COMPLETED

F E AT U R E L E N G T H

Family Fragments

Familienbruchstücke Natalie Pfister

Switzerland 2015, 60 min.

Original language: Swiss-German Production: Zürcher Hochschule der Künste ZHdK SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen World Rights: Zürcher Hochschule der Künste ZHdK T +41 44 446 31 12 film.info@zhdk.ch

The film reconstructs the memories of a divor­ ced family with empathy yet merciless precision.

An intimate family story emerges during the in­ vestigation into the reasons for the sepa­ration.

Hinging on the subtle and touching testi­monies of the family members, the film delves into complex interrelationships. Actors bring the family's memories alive as if they were their own. The result is a chronicle of a family drama, which the real protagonists complement and comment on – a reflection on the mechanisms and dynamics shaping and directing their family life over the years.

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* 1975 in Switzerland. Natalie Pfister worked as a school teacher before she received a degree in Social Policy and Contemporary History in 2005.

In 2015 she graduated with a Master in documentary film from Zürich University of the Arts (ZHdK). FAMILY FRAGMENTS is her first feature film.

It was nominated for Best Documentary at the First Steps Award 2015.

COMPLETED

F E AT U R E L E N G T H

My Life As A Film Mein Leben als Film

Eva Vitija

* 1973 in Basel. Eva Vitija receives a degree as screenwriter from DFFB (Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin) in 2002 and works as screenwriter for film and television as well as script consultant in Switzerland and Germany. Since 2012 Master studies in Film at Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). MY LIFE AS A FILM is her first feature.

When I came of age, my father gave me a film about my life. It infuriated me, because I had unavailingly attempted to get away from his camera. My father, filmmaker Joschy Schei­ degger, documented our family obsessively. It was only when he died that I was impelled to take over not only his extensive film archive, but also his camera. The result is a personal search for traces of surprising truths hidden behind my father’s pictures. A philosophical family story about filming and the attempt to capture life.

6

Switzerland 2015, 77 min.

Original languages: Swiss-German/German World premiere: DOK Leipzig 2015 Production: SwissDok GmbH, Basel Zürcher Hochschule der Künste ZHdK SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen World Rights: SwissDok GmbH, Basel T + 41 76 328 35 34 www.swissdok.ch

COMPLETED

F E AT U R E L E N G T H

Sonita.

Every Girl Has A Price.

Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami

Germany / Switzerland / Iran 2015, 91 min.

Original languages: Persian/Dari World premiere: IDFA 2015 Production Tag/Traum GmbH Filmproduktion, Cologne Intermezzo Films SA, Geneva RTS Radio Télévision Suisse SRG SSR Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami, Tehran World Sales CAT&Docs, Paris T +33 1 44 59 63 53 www.catndocs.com

Sonita is an 18-year-old undocumented Afghan illegal immigrant living in the poor suburbs of Tehran. She is a feisty, spirited, young woman who fights to live the way she wants, as an art­ ist, singer, and musician, in spite of all the ob­ stacles she confronts in Iran and her conserva­ tive patriarchal family. In harsh contrast to her goal is her family's plan – strongly supported by her mother – to make her a bride and sell her to a new family. The price at present is about 9'000 US Dollars.

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* 1973 in Tehran, Iran. Studied filmmaking and animation at Tehran Art Uni­versity.

2009 Published essays and a book, "Animated Documentary: A New Way to Express," published in Persian. Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami is especially known for her documentary GOING UP THE STAIRS (2011) and her graduation film, the animated documentary CYANOSIS (2007).

COMPLETED

F E AT U R E L E N G T H

The Day the Sun Fell Als die Sonne vom Himmel fiel Aya Domenig

* 1972 in Japan. Joint Swiss and Japanese citizenship. Aya Domenig studied Social Anthropology, Film Studies and Japan­ology at Zurich University and graduated in Film Directing from the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). Her graduation short film HARU ICHIBAN (Spring Storm) was presented at important festivals such as Locarno, Winterthur and Clermont-Ferrand and was awarded at Premier Plans in Angers. THE DAY THE SUN FELL is her first feature length documentary.

Swiss-Japanese filmmaker Aya Domenig, the granddaughter of a doctor on duty for the Red Cross during the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiro­ shima, approaches the experience of her de­ ceased grandfather by tracing the lives of a doc­ tor and of former nurses who once shared the same experience. While gathering the memories and present views of these very last survivors, the nuclear disaster in Fukushima strikes and history seems to repeat itself.

Beautifully intimate and personal, yet it reaches out across the world in terms of the issues that are at hand.

Anne Thompson, Indiewire

A topic of international interest – this movie is poetic.

Peter Debruge, Variety

8

Switzerland 2015, 78 min.

Original languages: German / Japanese World premiere: Festival del film Locarno 2015 Production: ican films gmbh, Zurich SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen World Rights: ican films gmbh, Zurich T +41 44 252 33 59 www.ican-films.com

COMPLETED

F E AT U R E L E N G T H

YES NO MAYBE Kaspar Kasics

Switzerland 2015, 106 min.

Original languages: German / French / Russian / English World premiere: Festival del film Locarno 2015 Production: Distant Lights GmbH, Zurich SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen SRG SSR World Rights: Distant Lights, Zurich T +41 44 363 82 03 kk@distantlights.ch www.distantlights.ch

What’s up with love? Can it still be found or is it a utopian dream? What keeps a couple together and where does desire take us? In its search for clues, YES NO MAYBE comes upon two com­ pletely different couples: a first love and a last love. One begins unexpectedly via Internet, the other culminates in a shared dream of many years in Portland, Oregon. Meanwhile, Eva Illouz and Sven Hillenkamp discerningly crack the code of the impossible character of love, the findings of which the two couples discount. www.yesnomaybe-film.com

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Kaspar Kasics studied Music, German and Philosophy, before working as editor and director for Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen SRF. Since 1990 he workes as an independent author, director and producer.

Kasics is known for his documentaries CLOSED COUNTRY (1999) and BLUE END (2000), both presented at the Berlinale (Panorama) and for the renowned documentary NO MORE SMOKE SIGNALS (2008), which he edited and produced.

COMPLETED SHORTS A Simple Story, Mine, Yours And M’s

Babor Casanova

Just Another Day In Egypt

Atefeh Yarmohammadi

Karim Sayad

Nikola Ilić / Corina Schwingruber Ilić

Switzerland / Iran, 2015, 32 min.

Original language: Persian

Switzerland, 2015, 35 min.

Original language: Arabic

Switzerland, 2015, 11 min.

Original language: Arabic

World premiere: Int'l Kurzfilmtage Winterthur 2015 Production: Haute école d'art et de design, Geneva Atefeh Yarmohammadi, Tehran World Rights: Haute école d'art et de design, Geneva T +41 22 388 58 61 cinema.head@hsge.ch head.hesge.ch/cinema

World premiere: Festival del film Locarno 2015 Production and World Rights: Close Up Films, Geneva T +41 22 808 08 46 www.closeupfilms.ch

World premiere: Festival del film Locarno 2015 Production and World Rights: Cortha Film, Luzern T +41 78 835 51 58 info@corthafilm.com www.corthafilm.com

Dastan-e sadeye man, to va mim

In search of one's childhood, what is lost, forgotten, stolen. Back in the 1980's in Iran, an eventful decade that changed our lives.

Just before and after the revolution, an en­ tire country is destabilized. And then the war, unforeseen complicating the lives of Iranians, and whose influences never end.

Algiers. Adlan and Terrorist navigate the neighborhood, desperately trying to make a few dinars. Between small deals and unofficial parking service, they wait for the weekends and the Mouloudia soccer games. There, they can forget the emp­ tiness of their lives, sing their love for the team and dream about the boat that might take them far away.

Watch online: SHORT FILM LIBRARY www.swissfilms.ch/shortfilmlibrary

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What's left after the Egyptian Revolution in 2011? Not much, except a lot of people in prison and a big disappointment. The former Chief of Army Al-Sisi took over and now rules the country with an iron fist. Eve­ ryday life goes on and in Cairo's alleyways people are trying to make the best of it.

Watch online: SHORT FILM LIBRARY www.swissfilms.ch/shortfilmlibrary

COMPLETED SHORTS

Moriom

Our Sea

Pedro M, 1981

Francesca Scalisi / Mark Olexa

Eileen Hofer

Andreas Fontana

Switzerland, 2015, 12 min.

Original language: Bengali

Switzerland, 2015, 15 min.

Original language: Spanish

Switzerland / Spain, 2015, 27 min.

Original language: Spanish

World premiere: Int'l Kurzfilmtage Winterthur 2015 Production and World Rights: DOK MOBILE, Fribourg T +41 79 718 48 91 www.dokmobile.ch

World premiere: Int'l Kurzfilmtage Winterthur 2015 Production and World Rights: 5 To Five, Geneva info@eileenhofer.ch www.eileenhofer.ch

Summer 2014. Rural Bangladesh. "I came from Heaven. I came to destroy all bad things in the world. I'm a police officer.

I'm a flower angel. I got a job at the police station. I will punish them. I will put them in jail." This is the story of a girl and the tragedy that changed her life.

In Havana, Emilio watches the prima bal­ lerina dancing. He repairs her ballet shoes but doesn’t dare talk to her. At home, he takes care of his elderly mother and spends some time with his neighbour, the singer Omara Portuondo. Together they watch the sea changing its colour. A storm is brewing.

World premiere: Visions du Réel Nyon 2015 Production: Terrain Vague, Lausanne Laissez-faire, Madrid World Rights: Terrain Vague, Lausanne T +41 78 743 38 89 www.terrainvague.ch

Nuestro mar

Watch online: SHORT FILM LIBRARY www.swissfilms.ch/shortfilmlibrary

Madrid. A woman is tracking down the fa­ ther she never knew. Pedro Martin, a Spanish cameraman, filmed the attempted coup d’état, in the parliament on Febru­ ary 23, 1981. In search of her father, the cameraman’s daughter meets people who are haunted by images of the past. Some­ times, historical archives can conceal an intimate tragedy.

Watch online: SHORT FILM LIBRARY www.swissfilms.ch/shortfilmlibrary 11

COMPLETED SHORTS

Procedere:

Sempervirens

The Meadow

Delia Schiltknecht

Raphaël Dubach

Jela Hasler

Switzerland, 2015, 6 min.

Original language: German

Switzerland, 2015, 46 min.

Original language: French

Switzerland, 2015, 9 min.

Without dialogue

World premiere: Leipzig 2015 Production and World Rights: Zürcher Hochschule der Künste ZHdK T +41 43 446 31 12 film.info@zhdk.ch

World premiere: IDFA 2015 Production and World Rights: École Cantonale d'Art de Lausanne T +41 21 316 99 33 jean_guillaume.sonnier@ecal.ch

World premiere: Festival del film Locarno 2015 Production and World Rights: Jela Hasler, Zurich T +41 79 757 64 91 www.jelahasler.ch

"Bad images should disappear immediate­ ly!" Negative images mustn't be thought of. Nevertheless they are here and con­ stantly circling in one's head. Compulsion should chase them away.

Since he fell off his bike, Mr. Jacot hasn’t been himself; in fact he isn’t really any­ body. The brain damage he sustained in the fall means his existence is reduced to the bare minimum of consciousness. Mr. Jacot is an unresponsive body lying in a white bed. He is treated at the acute neu­ rorehabilitation centre of the CHUV by a group of highly specialized therapists. He begins a long journey, structured by the regular rhythm of these therapies, where he has to learn how to use his body again and to re-establish his personality.

In a dry, barren landscape, a herd of cattle grazes, accompanied by dogs, tended to by cowboys. Step by step the seemingly peaceful place starts to prove deceptive to the viewer – while the cows end their day as it began.

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Watch online: SHORT FILM LIBRARY www.swissfilms.ch/shortfilmlibrary

FESTIVAL FAVOURITES

Above and Below

FA

E ntary e Docum ion Select

Arlette. Courage Is A Muscle. Grozny Blues Arlette. Mut ist ein Muskel

FA

E ntary e Docum ion Select

Nicolas Steiner

Florian Hoffmann

Nicola Bellucci

Switzerland / Germany, 2015, 118 min.

Original language: English

Switzerland / Germany, 2015, 84 min.

Original languages: German/French/Sango

Switzerland, 2015, 103 min.

Original languages: Russian / Chechen

Festivals (selection): International Film Festival Rotterdam 2015 (world premiere), BAFICI 2015, Hot Docs Toronto 2015, Edinburgh 2015, KVIFF 2015, Vancouver Int'l Film Festival 2015, IFF Message to Man St. Petersburg 2015 Production: maximage GmbH, Zurich Flying Moon Filmproduktion, Berlin SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen ZDF / 3sat World Rights: maximage GmbH, Zurich T +41 44 274 88 66, www.maximage.ch

Festivals (selection): Visions du Réel Nyon 2015 (world premiere) Duisburger Filmwoche 2015, IDFA 2015 Production: PS Film GmbH, Zurich SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen 3sat Florian Hoffmann, Basel Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin World Rights: PS Film GmbH, Zurich T +41 44 481 31 70 psfilm@hotmail.com

Festivals (selection): Visions du Réel Nyon 2015 (world premiere) Festival del film Locarno 2015 Busan International Film Festival 2015 DOK Leipzig 2015, IDFA 2015 Production: Soap Factory GmbH, Basel SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen World Sales: Antipode Sales & Distribution, Moscow T +7 499 978 73 14 antipode-sales.biz

Far, far away and out of sight, that’s where April, Dave, Cindy, Rick and the Godfather are creating life on their own terms. From the depths of the flood channels under Sin City, to a reclaimed military bunker in the middle of the dusty, heated Californian nowhere land, to beyond the stratosphere where Mars now lives on earth. www.aboveandbelowfilm.com

Arlette, a 15-year-old girl from the Central African Republic, suffered severe injuries during the last war. In Berlin a surgery frees her from her pain. But then war breaks out again in her homeland. What was planned to be a short stay in Germany turns into a journey without a foreseeable end. A jour­ ney from childhood to adulthood.

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"Grozny Blues" follows the daily lives of a handful of people living in the capital of war-torn Chechnya. The film’s protago­ nists – human rights activists, a group of young musicians, the owner of a Blues club – are all trying to find their way through a surreal cityscape and a divided society shaped by repression, archaic customs, increasing Islamification and the failure to come to terms with recent history.

FESTIVAL FAVOURITES

Horizontes

Imagine Waking Up Tomorrow And All Music Has Disappeared

Iraqi Odyssey

Eileen Hofer

Stefan Schwietert

Samir

Switzerland, 2015, 70 min.

Original language: Spanish

Switzerland / Germany, 2015, 86 min.

Original language: English

Switzerland / Germany / UAE / Iraq, 2014, 162 min., 3D, Orig. languages: Ger / Eng/ Fr/Arabic

Festivals (selection): Visions du Réel Nyon 2015, KVIFF 2015, Festival del film Locarno 2015, New Horizons Wroclaw 2015, Raindance 2015, Montreal World Film Festival 2015, FIFF Namur 2015 Production: Intermezzo Films SA, Geneva World Sales: Taskovski Films Ltd, London T +44 387 65 65 20 46 www.taskovskifilms.com

Festivals (selection): Visions du Réel Nyon 2015, Doc Against Gravity Film Festival Warsaw 2015, Edinburgh Int’l Film Festival 2015, Filmfest Munich 2015, CHP: DOX Copenhagen 2015 Production: maximage GmbH, Zurich Flying Moon Filmproduktion, Berlin SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen SRG SSR World Rights: maximage GmbH, Zurich T +41 44 274 88 66, www.maximage.ch

Festivals (selection): TIFF 2014 (world premiere), Abu Dhabi Film Festival 2014, Berlinale 2015, BAFICI 2015, Beldocs 2015 Int'l Documentary Film Festival, New Zealand, Int'l Film Festival 2015, Duisburger Filmwoche 2015 Production: Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion AG, Zurich, / Coin Film, Cologne / Furat al Jamil, Baghdad World Sales: Autlook Filmsales GmbH, Vienna T +43 720 34 69 34, www.autlookfilms.com

Imagine waking up tomorrow and all music has disappeared. What will remain when it is all gone? When we don’t know any­ more what it was: music? Bill Drummond shows it to us: the man who with The KLF once conquered the world of pop and now leads the largest choir of the world: The17, a changing ensemble of amateurs with no sheets of music and no rehearsals.

Tracing the emigrations of his family over more than half a century, this epic from ac­ claimed expatriate Iraqi filmmaker Samir pays homage to the frustrated democratic dreams of a people successively plagued by dictatorship, war and occupation. www.iraqiodyssey.com

Run-down rehearsal rooms along the halls of the Grand Theatre of Havana. Amanda and Viengsay dedicate themselves whole­ heartedly to the demanding routine their discipline requires of them: that of clas­ sical ballet. Their every step and aspira­ tion echo the great achievements of their predecessor, Alicia Alonso, the prima bal­ lerina assoluta, still invincible even at the grand age of 90. www.horizontes-film.ch

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COMING SOON

EXPECTED JANUARY 2016

Cahier africain Heidi Specogna

Switzerland / Germany, 117 min.

Original languages: German / French Production: PS Film GmbH, Zurich Filmpunkt GmbH, Cologne Specogna Film, Berlin ZDF / 3sat World Rights: PS Film GmbH, Zurich T +41 44 481 31 70 psfilm@hotmail.com

Taking centre stage in the film is a small note­ book, an ordinary exercise book with fancy racing cars on the cover. But in place of vocabulary, its pages are filled with courageous testimonies by 300 Central African women and girls. They reveal what was done to them by Congolese mercenary soldiers in the course of military dis­ putes in October 2002. The notebook is their self-made piece of evidence to indict the crimes of rape committed against them.

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* 1959 in Switzerland. Heidi Specogna worked as a journalist before studying film at the DFFB Berlin from 1982 – 88 and founded her own production company Specogna Film in 1990. Specogna is known for her award-winning documentaries CARTE BLANCHE (2011), THE GOAL­ GETTER'S SHIP (2010) and THE SHORT LIFE OF JOSÉ ANTONIO GUTIERREZ (2006). She works as a lecturer in docu­ mentary filmmaking at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg.

COMING SOON

EXPECTED SPRING 2016

Europe, She Loves Jan Gassmann

Five couples are on the edge of Europe. With charm, sex and love they struggle with everyday life. This is a political movie portrayed in images, not in words. Five couples are geographically se­ parated but they are joined in their fight for life under the roof of Europe. Seville, Dublin, Tallinn, Thessaloniki, Zagreb. Europe, she loves. * 1983 in Zurich. Jan Gassmann studied documentary film directing at HFF (Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film) Munich. His award-winning first feature CHRIGU (2007) turned into a big inter­ national festival success. Gassman is the co-direcotr of KARMA SHADUB (2013) as well as one of the initiators and directors of WONDERLAND, which premiered at the Festival del film Locarno 2015 (International Competition).

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Switzerland / Germany, 95 min.

Original languages: English / Estonian / Greek / Croatian / Spanish Production: 2:1 Film GmbH, Zurich Lüthje Schneider Hörl / FILM GbR, Munich World Rights: 2:1 Film GmbH, Zurich T +41 43 536 99 75 www.2zu1film.com

COMING SOON

EXPECTED SPRING 2016

King Of The Air – Notes On A Friendship Zaunkönig – Tagebuch einer Freundschaft Ivo Zen

Switzerland, 90 min.

Original languages: German/Swiss-German Production: Mira Film GmbH, Zurich SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen World Rights: Mira Film GmbH, Zurich T+ 41 43 960 36 84 www.mirafilm.ch

Using the diary of his friend Martin Felix, film director Ivo Zen delves into the world of a human being whose life was destroyed due to the use of drugs. Through encounters with friends and companions and the use of Ivo Zens own Super-8 film diary, the film examines why it was so difficult for Martin and Ivo to grow up. * 1970 in Switzerland. Ivo Zen studied architecture at the ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich) before receiving a degree from ESBA (École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Geneva), film and video department in 2003. Zen works as lecturer for documentary film at HEAD-Genève and is the president of the CIR (Cineasts Independents Rumantschs), the interest group for Rhaeto-Romanic filmmakers.

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COMING SOON

EXPECTED SPRING 2016

MIRR – The Field Mehdi Sahebi

* 1963 in Iran. Mehdi Sahebi studied Ethnology, History and International Law at the University of Zurich, where he received his PhD in Visual Anthropology in 2006.

Sahebis impressive documentary ZEIT DES ABSCHIEDS (2006) was screened at many festivals worldwide and won several awards, such as the SRG SSR idée suisse Award of the Semaine de la critique at the Festival del film Locarno and the Grand Jury Prize as well as the Audience Award at the international film festival «Entre­vues» in Belfort.

Binchey, a traditional peasant farmer from Mon­ dulkiri, was expelled from his land – like hund­­reds of thousands of farmers in Cambodia. He feels powerless in the face of foreign rubber tree plantations spreading across more and more parts of the country. Together with Bin­ chey and other villagers, film director Mehdi Sahebi stages the story of this confiscation of the land and its ramifications.

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Switzerland, 90 min.

Original languages: Khmer / Bunong Production and World Rights: Cinéma Copain, Zurich T +41 79 231 75 81 www.cinemacopain.com

COMING SOON

EXPECTED SPRING 2016

Raving Iran Susanne Regina Meures

Switzerland, 86 min.

Original languages: Persian / English / Swiss-German Production: Christian Frei Filmproduktion GmbH, Zurich Zürcher Hochschule der Künste ZHdK SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen 3sat Zürich World Rights: Christian Frei Filmproduktion GmbH, Zurich T +41 44 481 70 66 christianfrei@gmx.ch

Anoosh and Arash are at the center of Teh­ ran’s underground techno scene. Tired of hiding from the police and their stagnating career, they organize one last manic techno rave under dangerous circumstances in the desert. Back in Tehran they try their luck selling their illegally printed album without permission. When Anoosh is arrested, there seems to be no hope left. But then they receive a phone call from the big­ gest techno festival in the world. Once landed in Switzerland, the haze of the instant euphoria evaporates quickly when the seriousness of the situation starts to dawn on them.

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* 1977 in Germany. Susanne Regina Meures studied Photography and Art History in London 2000 – 06. Since 2012 she is enrolled in MA studies in Film at the University of the Arts in Zürich (ZHdK).

RAVING IRAN is her first feature film.

COMING SOON

EXPECTED WINTER 2015/2016

The Chinese Recipe – Smart & Courageous Jürg Neuenschwander

* 1953 in Switzerland. Jürg Neuenschwander cofounded the production company Container TV AG. He has been working as an independent director and producer since 1984. He directed renowned documentaries such as ENCOUNTERS ON THE MILKY WAY (2000) or SOONER OR LATER (2003). Since 2009 he is a visiting professor at Tongji University Shanghai, lives and works in Bern and Shanghai.

Take what has already been invented, develop it further, let your competitors copy it and inte­ grate their innovations into your own product: this is The Chinese Recipe of progress. Zhou searches for blueprints on the Internet and high-end components in rubbish dumps to build amplifiers "better than the original". The deals made between a Swiss machine manufacturer and its Chinese imitators are based on the phi­ losophy of collaboration instead of suing for breach of copyright. Hex, the smart Chinese de­ signer start-up becomes globally successful and throws itself into new adventures in California. www.thechineserecipe-movie.com

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Switzerland, 95 min.

Original languages: Mandarin / English / Swiss-German Production: Container TV, AG für Film und Fernsehproduktion, Bern SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen World Rights: Container TV, AG für Film und Fernsehproduktion, Bern T +41 31 371 10 42 www.container-tv.com

COMING SOON

EXPECTED SPRING 2016

The Valley Of Salt

La Vallée du Sel

Christophe M. Saber

Switzerland, 62 min.

Original languages: French / Arabic Production: Box Productions sàrl, Renens World Sales: Salaud Morisset, Berlin T +49 152 25 19 23 36 www.salaudmorissetproduction.com

In the midst of Egypt's worst political time, a young filmmaker returns home, to Cairo, for the first time since the start of the revolution. Be­ fore leaving Switzerland, his parents warn him that they are receiving death threats as a result of their work amongst Christian communities.

For two weeks, a son watches his parents face a situation that will shake their faith and ques­ tion their presence in their own country.

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* 1991 in Cairo. Joint Swiss and Egyptian citizenship. Christophe M. Saber received a BA in Film from ECAL (École Cantonale d'Art de Lausanne) in 2014. His award-winning short film DISCIPLINE (2014) premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014 and has been selected for more than 100 festivals since. THE VALLEY OF SALT is Saber's first feature film.

COMING SOON

EXPECTED SPRING 2016

Zen For Nothing Werner Penzel

* 1950 in Germany. In the seventies extensive travels through North Africa, India, Japan, South and Central America. First feature length documentary VAGABUNDEN KARAWANE (1980), folllowed by ADIOS AL ODIO (1985). In 1986 he founds CineNomad in collaboration with Nicolas Humbert, resulting in STEP ACROSS THE BORDER (1990), MIDDLE OF THE MOMENT (1995), the filmtryptich THREE WINDOWS (1999) and BROTHER YUSEF (2005). In 2009 he moves to Japan, working on the documentaries WHILE WE KISS THE SKY (2015) as well as ZEN FOR NOTHING (2015).

Tucked away in the mountains on the west coast of Japan lies the small Zen monastery Antaiji. A young woman sets off to immerse herself from autumn to spring in the adventures of monastic life. The young woman is Sabine Timoteo from Berne. The abbot of the monastery is Muho Nöl­ ke from Berlin. An interplay between the philosophy of the Japanese Zen master Kodo Sawaki and the surprises brought forth by everyday life.

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Switzerland / Germany, 100 min.

Original languages: German / English / Japanese Production and World Rights: Recycled TV AG, Bern T +41 31 318 53 53, www.rectv.ch Werner Penzel Filmproduktion, Munich werner.penzel@jourparjour.net

IN PRODUCTION

Almost There

Jacqueline Zünd

In Production

Planned for Summer 2016

Calabria

Pierre-François Sauter

In Production

Planned for Spring 2016

Eldorado

Markus Imhoof

In Production

Planned for Summer 2016

Fell In Love With A Girl

Kaleo La Belle

In Production

Planned for Summer 2016

Jean Ziegler – Le combat du monstre

Nicolas Wadimoff

In Production

Planned for Spring 2016

The Chinese Lives Of Uli Sigg

Michael Schindhelm

In Production

Planned for Spring 2016

Wild Plants

Nicolas Humbert

In Production

Planned for Spring 2016

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+++ Visit us at our stands at the Berlinale European Film Market EFM, Cannes Village International, Festival del film Locarno and Toronto International Film Festival +++

SWISS FILMS Neugasse 6 | Postfach | CH-8031 Zurich T +41 43 211 40 50 info @ swissfilms.ch www.swissfilms.ch