Docs Spring 2016

DOCS SPRING

T eam

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DOCS SPRING 2016

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

Swiss Docs Spring 2016 Documentary Films Feature Length – Completed 3 Documentary Films Shorts – Completed 18

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

Marcel Müller Festival Advisor & VOD Consultant mmueller@swissfilms.ch T +41 79 787 93 88

Documentary Films – Coming Soon

22

Documentary Films – In Production 27

Cover: WILD PLANTS by Nicolas Humbert Back cover: RAVING IRAN by Susanne Regina Meures

C ompleted F eat u re L engt h

Calabria Pierre-François Sauter

Switzerland 2016, 117 min.

Original languages: French/Serbian/ Romani/Portuguese/Italian World premiere: Visions du Réel Nyon 2016 (International Competition) Production: Mira Film GmbH, Zurich Le Laboratoire Central, Lausanne RTS Radio Télévision Suisse World Rights: Le Laboratoire Central, Lausanne T +41 78 605 69 81 www.lelaboratoirecentral.com

A road movie in a hearse. After the death of a Calabrian immigrant who came to Switzerland to find work, two undertakers, Jovan and José, who are themselves emigrants, travel from northern to southern Italy to repatriate the dead body to his home village. Jovan, a gypsy who was a singer in Belgrad, believes in life after death. While José, a Portuguese who is passionate about culture, believes only what he sees. Together they face the contingencies and the surprises of the trip. Their journey is an opportunity to pay tribute to the dead person and to enjoy life.

3

* 1966 in Switzerland. Pierre-François Sauter studied fine arts and worked for both Radio Télévision Belge (RTBF) and Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF).

After FACING THE JUDGE (2009), which premiered at Visions du Réel in Nyon, CALABRIA is his second documentary feature film.

C ompleted F eat u re L engt h

Europe, she loves Jan Gassmann

Europe on the verge of social and economic change. A close up into the shaken vision of four couples, daily struggles, fights, kids, sex and passion. A movie about the politics of love. Seville, Tallinn, Dublin, Thessaloniki. 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) premiered at the Berlinale Forum and became an international festival hit. Gassmann is the co-director 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).

www.europesheloves.com “An unusually frank glimpse of a generation which is struggling to make life work on the embattled fringes of the EU.” Wendy Ide, Screen International

4

Switzerland / Germany 2016, 100 min.

Original languages: English/Estonian/ Greek/Spanish World premiere: Berlinale 2016 (Panorama) Production: 2:1 Film GmbH, Zurich Lüthje Schneider Hörl FILM GbR, Munich ARTE World Sales: Autlook Filmsales GmbH, Vienna T +43 720 34 69 34 www.autlookfilms.com

C ompleted F eat u re L engt h

Half-life In Fukushima Demi-vie à Fukushima

Mark Olexa / Francesca Scalisi

Switzerland / France 2016, 61 min.

Original language: Japanese World premiere: Visions du Réel Nyon 2016 (International Competition) Production: DOK MOBILE, Fribourg Cinédoc Films, Annecy World Rights: DOK MOBILE, Fribourg T +41 79 718 48 91 www.dokmobile.ch

On March 11, 2011, a powerful tsunami hit the coast and a nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture. Many people died and thousands had to flee the region.

However, one man decided to stay in the red zone and defy radioactivity. Silently, with wind as the only soundtrack to his days, Naoto Matsumura continues to take care of his land and feed his cattle. His presence itself becomes an obstacle to the government's strategy of slowly forgetting about the incident. Naoto stays in this area as a protector of the past and as a reminder that humanity needs to change.

5

Mark Olexa * 1984 in Biel. Joint Swiss and Czech citizenship.

Mark Olexa attended Prague Film School from 2005 – 06 and ZeLIG in Bolzano from 2007 – 10. He cofounded Dok Mobile in 2012. With Francesca Scalisi he directed the short documentary MORIOM (2015), which premiered at IDFA. Francesca Scalisi * 1982 in Bergamo. Italian citizenship. Received degree from ZeLIG in Bolzano. In 2012 Francesca Scalisi cofounded Dok Mobile and worked as editor, producer and director. HALF-LIFE IN FUKUSHIMA is her first feature film, which she directed together with Mark Olexa.

C ompleted F eat u re L engt h

King Of The Airs – Notes On A Friendship Zaunkönig – Tagebuch einer Freundschaft

Ivo Zen 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.

6

Switzerland 2016, 76 min.

Original languages: German/Swiss-German World premiere: Visions du Réel Nyon 2016 (Regard Neuf) 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

C ompleted F eat u re L engt h

Like Dew In The Sun

Comme la rosée au soleil Peter Entell

Switzerland 2016, 108 min.

Original languages: French/English World premiere: Visions du Réel Nyon 2016 (International Competition) Production: Show and Tell Films, Founex RTS Radio Télévision Suisse World Rights: Show and Tell Films, Founex T +41 79 376 55 57 pentell@bluewin.ch

100 years ago the grandparents of the director Peter Entell fled the war and massacres in Ukraine. Today, Entell confronts the same destructive nationalism in which people kill in the name of their motherland, their flag, their culture, their religion. The memory of the atrocities suffered by the Jews, the Muslim Tatars of Crimea, the Orthodox, are transmitted from generation to generation, and with it the poison of hatred … this hatred that prevents turning the page on the horror.

7

* 1952 in New York. Peter Entell has American citizenship and lives in Switzerland since 1975.

He worked in Europe, Africa and Asia on social, political and environmental projects. Entell is especially known for his films A HOME FAR AWAY (2012), SHAKE THE DEVIL OFF (2007) and ROLLING (1997), which were selected for numerous festivals worldwide.

C ompleted F eat u re L engt h

Looking Like My Mother Dominique Margot

* 1961 in Zurich. Joint Swiss and French citizenship.

Dominique Margot studied film at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and graduated in 1999. She has worked as director and D.O.P on a number of documentaries in Switzerland and France. Her last film TOUMAST – GUITARS AND KALASHNIKOVS (2010) was screened and awarded at several festivals. LOOKING LIKE MY MOTHER is her second feature documentary film.

The film follows the filmmaker's journey as a daughter of a mother who suffered from depression and confronts her fear of inheriting the disease. It describes her helplessness as a child, her anger as a teenager and her eventual understanding of the courage it took for her mother to even carry on breathing. The film traces the individual experience, sharing the emptiness and the eventual discovery of a sense of meaning in life. An audiovisually playful film about complex family relationships and the unexpected reconciliation that occurs when her mother dies.

8

Switzerland 2016, 78 min.

Original languages: German/French/ English/Swiss-German World premiere: Visions du RĂŠel Nyon 2016 (International Competition) Production: maximage GmbH, Zurich SRG SSR World Rights: maximage GmbH, Zurich T +41 44 274 88 66 www.maximage.ch

C ompleted F eat u re L engt h

Offshore – Elmer And The Swiss Bank Secrecy Offshore – Elmer und das Bankgeheimnis

Switzerland 2016, 101 min.

Original language: German World premiere: Solothurner Filmtage 2016 Production: Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion AG, Zurich Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen World Rights: Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion AG, Zurich T +41 44 456 30 20 www.dvfilm.ch

Werner Schweizer

Rudolf Elmer: from insider to critic. While managers of Swiss banks in the USA ruefully apologise for their tax evasions practices and customer data is disclosed to the American authorities, Rudolf Elmer, former auditor at bank Julius Bär, is indicted for violating the Swiss banking secrecy law on the Cayman Islands. * 1955 in Kriens. Werner Schweizer works as director and producer. Before cofounding the production company Dschoint Ventschr AG in 1994, he worked in the video collective Videoladen (ZURICH IS BURNING, 1982). Schweizer is especially known for his documentaries NOEL FIELD – THE FICTIOUS SPY (1996), VON WERRA (2002) and ENEMIES IN LOVE (2013), which he directed or SKINHEAD ATTITUDE (2003) and DIRTY PARADISE (2009) by Daniel Schweizer, which he produced.

9

C ompleted F eat u re L engt h

Raving Iran Susanne Regina Meures

* 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.

Anoosh and Arash are at the center of Tehran’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 music album without permission. When Anoosh is arrested, there seems to be no hope left. But then they receive a phone call from the biggest 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. www.ravingiran.com

10

Switzerland 2016, 86 min.

Original languages: Persian/English/Swiss-German World premiere: Visions du Réel Nyon 2016 (Helvétiques) Production: Christian Frei Filmproduktion GmbH, Zurich Zürcher Hochschule der Künste SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen 3sat Zürich World Rights: Christian Frei Filmproduktion GmbH, Zurich T +41 44 481 70 66 christianfrei@gmx.ch

C ompleted F eat u re L engt h

Rio Corgo Maya Kosa / Sergio Da Costa

Switzerland / Portugal 2015, 95 min.

Original language: Portuguese World premiere: doclisboa 2015 International premiere: Berlinale 2016 (Forum) Production: Close Up Films, Geneva O Som e a Fúria, Lisboa World Rights: Close Up Films, Geneva T +41 22 808 08 46 flavia@closeupfilms.ch www.closeupfilms.ch

Silva, an old drifter, arrives at a small and isolated Portuguese village where he meets the young Ana. They develop a relation in between friendship and initiation. Fascinated by that wondrous man, Ana progressively falls into his universe. A life populated by supernatural figures including her long lost friend Carolina. But strange fits weaken Silva, bringing him to the hospital, where a dozen women start inhabiting him. Will they save him?

“A beautifully executed portrait of a dignified, dandyish senior and his one-horse hamlet (…). 'Slow cinema' at its most seductively sweet.”

Neil Young, The Hollywood Reporter

11

Maya Kosa * 1985 in Geneva. Maya Kosa studied directing at the HEAD (Haute école d’art et de design – Genève) from 2005 – 10.

In 2010 she founded Pó Films.

RIO CORGO is her first feature film.

Sergio Da Costa * 1984 in Lausanne. Joint Swiss and Portugese citizenship. Sergio Da Costa received his degree from HEAD (Haute école d’art et de design – Genève) in 2010. RIO CORGO is his first feature film.

C ompleted F eat u re L engt h

Tadmor Monika Borgmann / Lokman Slim

Monika Borgmann * 1963 in Germany. Studied Arab literature in Germany and Syria. Since 1988 works as a freelance journalist. Cofounded UMAM Production in 2001 with Lokman Slim and UMAM Documentation and Research in 2004, a Lebanese NGO working on civil violence and wartime memories.

Lokman Slim * 1962 in Beirut. Studied Philosophy in Paris.

Lokman Slim founded the Dar al-Jadeed publishing house in 1988 in Beirut. Borgmann and Slim co-wrote and co-directed the awardwinning documentary MASSAKER (2005) on the Sabra and Shatila massacres in 1982.

One year after the Syrian uprising of 2012, eight former Lebanese political detainees decided to break the silence about the long years they spent in the Tadmor Prison (Palmyra), the har­ shest prison of Assad's regime. As they know that words alone fall short of expressing the cruelty of the torture, suffering, fear, contempt and humiliation they survived, they decide to relive, together, their ordeal. Tadmor is a story about their will to live.

12

France / Switzerland / Lebanon 2016, 90 min.

Original language: Arabic World premiere: Visions du Réel Nyon 2016 (Internatinal Competition) Production: Les Films de l’Étranger, Schiltigheim GoldenEggProduction, Genève Umam Production, Beirut World Sales: Doc & Film International, Paris T +33 1 42 77 56 87 www.docandfilm.com

C ompleted F eat u re L engt h

The Beekeeper And His Son Diedie Weng

Switzerland / Canada 2016, 85 min.

Original language: Chinese World premiere: Visions du Réel Nyon 2016 (Helvétiques) Production: Mira Film GmbH, Zurich Lowik Média, Montreal SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen World Rights: Mira Film GmbH, Zurich T +41 43 960 36 84 www.mirafilm.ch

Disillusioned by the harsh conditions in large Chinese cities, twenty-year-old Maofu returns to his family in the village. He has the idea to modernise his ageing father's bee farm. But his father Laoyou wants his son to learn the craft of beekeeping first. Whilst Laoyu is disappointed by Maofu's lack of interest in bees, Maofu feels suffocated by his father's authoritarian tone. Their unspoken expectations tensely echo with the harsh weather conditions and a mischievous goose. www.thebeekeeperandhisson.com

13

* 1980 in Guangdong, currently based in Toronto, Canada. Diedie Weng received her MFA in documentary production at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Weng has also worked with diverse organisations training community members to make videos for advocacy and personal empowerment in China, the US and India.

THE BEEKEEPER AND HIS SON is her first documentary feature film.

C ompleted F eat u re L engt h

The Chinese Lives Of Uli Sigg Michael Schindhelm

* 1960 in Germany. Michael Schindhelm is a writer, filmmaker, performing arts expert and cultural advisor for international organisations. He worked also as playwright, television presenter and translator.

His previous film BIRD’S NEST (2008), co-directed with Christoph Schaub, on the Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron in China was screened at several international festivals.

The Swiss Uli Sigg had an impact on China’s shifting economic policy after the Mao era. He has also established the world’s most significant collection of contemporary Chinese art.

The majority of this collection will be transfer­ red to Hong Kong’s M+ museum, due to open in 2019. A documentary about the entrepreneur, diplomat and art collector Uli Sigg in the tense and ongoing transformation of Chinese society from the late 1970s until today. www.ulisiggmovie.com

14

Switzerland Documentary, 93 min.

Original languages: Swiss-German/German/ English/Chinese Production: T&C Film AG, Zurich World Sales: Autlook Filmsales GmbH, Vienna T +43 720 34 69 34 www.autlookfilms.com

C ompleted F eat u re L engt h

The Valley Of Salt

La Vallée du Sel Christophe M. Saber

Switzerland 2016, 62 min.

Original languages: French/Arabic World premiere: HotDocs Toronto 2016 Production: Box Productions sàrl, Renens World Sales: Salaud Morisset, Berlin T +49 152 25 19 23 36 www.salaudmorisset.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. Before 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 question their presence in their own country.

15

* 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 awardwinning 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.

C ompleted F eat u re L engt h

Trading Paradise Daniel Schweizer

* 1959 in Geneva. The award winning documentary filmmaker is known for his trilogy on right-wing extremism SKINHEAD ATTITUDE (2003), SKIN OR DIE (2003) and WHITE TERROR (2005). Schweizer attended ESAV (École Supérieure d’Art Visuel) in Geneva and ESEC (École Supérieure d’Études Cinématographiques) in Paris. 1983 – 93 worked for Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS), since 1993 as independent director and producer.

After the Nazi gold and the bank secret, the practices of commodities trading and extracting companies based in Switzerland will be the reason for the next defamation of the country.

Large parts of the world trade in commodities are handled by companies based in Zug and Geneva. They are known to pay very little taxes and to defy responsibility for environmental damages caused in the extracting countries.

The film shows how this business works and how NGOs try to improve the transparency and liability of these commodities giants.

16

Switzerland 2016, 78 min.

Original languages: German/English /French/ Spanish/Quechua /Portuguese World premiere: Visions du Réel Nyon 2016 (Grand Angle) Production and World Rights: A Film Company GmbH, Zurich T +41 43 322 18 22 www.afilmcompany.ch

C ompleted F eat u re L engt h

Wild Plants Nicolas Humbert

Switzerland / Germany 2016, 104 min.

Original languages: English/German/French World premiere: Visions du Réel Nyon 2016 (International Competition) Production: Close Up Films, Geneva Leykauf Film, Munich World Rights: Close Up Films, Geneva T +41 22 808 08 46 joelle@closeupfilms.ch www.closeupfilms.ch

A documentary about nature and the people that inhabit it, their stories and relationships.

The film depicts how nature can prevail in wastelands. How plants germinate and flowers blossom to create a new life environment. An introduction to people who seek their own life patterns, creators of a new form of activism. * 1958 in Munich. Nicolas Humbert attended HFF (Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film) from 1982 – 87. In 1987 he founded the film production Cine Nomad together with musician and film director Werner Penzel.

Their first major project STEP ACROSS THE BORDER (1990) about musician and composer Fred Frith won awards at numerous festivals and was named one of the 100 most important films in cinema history by critics of the Cahiers du Cinema.

17

C ompleted S h orts

About Art, My Family And Me.

Driftage

Everything That We Saw

Johannes Bachmann

Aurelio Buchwalder

Garrick J Lauterbach

Switzerland, 2015, 15 min.

Original language: German

Switzerland, 2016, 24 min.

Original languages: German/English/Italian

Switzerland, 2016, 23 min.

Original language: Swiss-German

World premiere: Early Bird Student Film Festival Sofia 2015 Production: Zürcher Hochschule der Künste World Sales: aug&ohr medien, Berlin T +49 176 62 96 52 99 www.augohr.de

World premiere: Visions du Réel Nyon 2016 (International Competition) Production and World Rights: Aurelio Buchwalder, Basel T +41 78 912 17 18 aurelio.buchwalder@hotmail.com

Production: Offspace Online GmbH, Cham World Rights: Offspace Online GmbH, Cham T +41 79 227 41 37 www.osol.ch and Garrick J Lauterbach, Basel T +41 76 341 69 39 garrick@letterbox-collective.com

Die Kunst, meine Familie und ich.

I’ve made an essay-film! I tried to answer the questions I have as a young adult.

What does art mean to me? How is art connected to my family? And who am I in between? Using only archival footage from my family, adding my improvised comment to it, a cheerful short film was born.

Schwemmgut

In the Po Valley hinterland, industrial urbanity and natural forces are very close, touching each other. Inhabitants have transformed the lowlands. The film tells stories of the reverse. Stories from the big, northern Italian river.

18

Alles was wir sahen

Silvia Gertsch and Xerxes Ach are a Swiss artist couple. While they have each developed their own individual techniques, their art is similar, both based on the experience of light.

C ompleted S h orts

From The Fields

Heidi At The Foley Artist

Hors scène

Rachel Vulliens

Christian Frei

Elie Grappe / Timothée Zurbuchen

Switzerland, 2016, 44 min.

Original language: French

Switzerland, 2016, 14 min.

Original languages: Swiss-German/German

Switzerland, 2016, 33 min.

Original languages: English/French/ Mandarin

World premiere: Visions du Réel Nyon 2016 (International Competition) Production and World Rights: Vue sur Mer FIlms, Geneva T +41 79 680 75 46 www.vuesurmer.ch

World premiere: Solothurner Filmtage 2016 Production: Milos-Films SA, Neuchâtel RTS Radio Télévision Suisse La Lanterne Magique Club de cinéma pour enfants, Neuchâtel Christian Frei Filmproduktion GmbH, Zurich World Rights: Milos-Films SA, Neuchâtel T +41 32 723 77 01

Production: Haute École de Musique de Lausanne École Cantonale d'Art de Lausanne Direction Générale de l’Enseignement Supérieur du Canton de Vaud, Lausanne World Rights: Elie Grappe, Renens T +41 77 493 09 64 elie.grappe@gmail.com and Timothée Zurbuchen, Lausanne T +41 79 795 08 55 timothee.zurbuchen@gmail.com

Chiens des champs

Life on the farm. The gestures of the small and those of the big. Play blends with work. The fire brings friends together before night falls on the forest.

Heidi beim Geräuschemacher

Nine-year-old Anuk Steffen plays the title role of the new HEIDI film. Full of curiosity, she watches the film crew at work, and is intrigued by the sound engineer. Anuk takes us to a mysterious studio, where she becomes part of a fascinating experiment.

Together with the Foley artist, she learns to dangle, plop and wriggle objects. A lesson about a legendary film character and the importance of the soundtrack.

19

A relentless and taciturn young violin player, a percussionist who only has a few notes to play, an assistant conductor waiting for the maestro to arrive. Between diligence and distraction, Swiss students are rehearsing in Singapore within a temporary orchestra.

C ompleted S h orts

Julian

La Dada – King Deer

The Liberators

Julia Furer

Anka Schmid

Philbert Aimé Sharangabo Mbabazi

Switzerland, 2015, 20 min.

Original language: German

Switzerland, 2016, 6 min.

Original language: German

Switzerland, 2016, 24 min.

Original languages: French/English/ Kinyarwanda

World premiere: Int’l Kurzfilmtage Winterthur 2015 Production: Hochschule Luzern Design & Kunst, Studienrichtung Video SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen World Rights: Hochschule Luzern Design & Kunst, Studienrichtung Video T +41 41 248 61 14 edith.flueckiger@hslu.ch

World premiere: Solothurner Filmtage 2016 Production and World Rights: Mano Film, Zurich T +41 79 547 79 49 manofilm@swissonline.ch

World premiere: Visions du Réel Nyon 2016 Production and World Rights: Haute école d'art et de design – Genève T +41 22 388 58 00 cinema.head@hesge.ch head.hesge.ch/cinema

Julian has been living in an old warehouse for twelve years, building harpsichords.

When he faces eviction from his live-in workshop, he is confronted with the fact that he has neglected himself as a human being; he is suddenly aware of his lifestyle and of the ever more pressing questions about his future and his purpose in life.

La Dada – König Hirsch

A filmic ode to the artist Sophie Taeuber (1889 – 1943) and to her dadaistic work. A dancer and a singer perform a duet with Taeuber’s marionettes and revive Dada as a collective art.

20

Mbabazi is struggling to make a film about a character called Colonel who spends his nights in bars of Paquis-Geneva, telling stories of his glorious past in the decoloni­ sation of Africa as a fighter alongside Samora Machel, Amilcar Cabral and Che. When the filmmaker meets some non-actors, They inhabit the character and make him come to life.

C ompleted S h orts

The Meadow

Venusia

What Should You Become, When You're Already Grown Up? Was soll man

Jela Hasler

Louise Carrin

Sara Stäuble

Switzerland, 2015, 9 min.

Original language: Without dialogue

Switzerland, 2016, 35 min.

Original language: French

Switzerland, 2016, 11 min.

Original language: Without dialogue

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

World premiere: Int. Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen 2016 Production and World Rights: Thera Production, Lausanne T +41 21 558 50 50 www.thera-production.ch

World premiere: Visions du Réel Nyon 2016 Production and World Rights: Sara Stäuble, Lucerne T +41 79 641 11 34 www.sarastaeuble.ch

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. Filmed in the Golan Heights, on the border of Israel and Syria.

Lisa, an authoritarian owner of a luxurious brothel, has only one friend: Lena, an art‑ less prostitute as unpredictable as lazy and her longest employee. The two women are filmed in the intimacy of the smoking room where their relationship will mix tenderness and cruelty.

A field study in seven parts about the feeling of growing up: The sense and nonsense of idleness and stagnation are packed into whimsical images and suddenly you are floa­ting in this vacuum.

noch werden, wenn man schon gross ist?

21

C om I N G S O O N

Expected Spring 2016

In Art We Trust Benoît Rossel

* 1969 in La Garenne-Colombes, France.

Joint Swiss and French citizenship.

Benoît Rossel received his degree from ECAL (École Cantonale d'Art de Lausanne) and works as a professor at ECAL, Visual Communication Department, since 1997. His latest film LE THÉÂTRE DES OPÉRATIONS (2007) was awarded at Visions du Réel.

A portrait of a mysterious occupation, often seen as sacred by some, and disparaged or considered pretentious by others. By questioning the ambitions, the doubts, the strategies, the compromises, the hard times, and the lean years of unusual artists, symbolic of the entire profession, the film describes the passage of an artist today, from the beginning to the end of his professional life. It is a lively, playful and moving allegory of the image of the artist in contemporary society.

22

Switzerland / France 85 min.

Original languages: French/English Production: Close Up Films, Geneva Zadig Productions, Paris RTS Radio Télévision Suisse World Rights: Close Up Films, Geneva T +41 22 808 08 46 flavia@closeupfilms.ch www.closeupfilms.ch

C oming S oon

Expected SUmmer 2016

Jean Ziegler – l'optimisme de la volonté (working title) Nicolas Wadimoff

Switzerland 90 min.

Original languages: French/German/Spanish/English Production: Dreampixies, Vevey RTS Radio Télévision Suisse World Rights: Dreampixies, Vevey T +41 21 922 40 54 T +41 79 221 80 35 emmanuel@dreampixies.ch www.dreampixies.ch

In 1964, Jean Ziegler was asked by Che Guevara to fight the “capitalist Monster”. Former collaborator of Kofi Annan, professor and writer, Ziegler’s books still act as a manifesto to left-wing intelligentsia. At the UN Human Rights Council, he fights against “vulture funds”, a new avatar of the “Monster”. He goes back to Cuba, in his opinion the mother of all anticapitalist forces.

The visit becomes a dialogue between reality and symbolism, confronting his thinking with today’s Cuban destiny. What is the future of anticapitalism? Is Ziegler amongst the winners or losers against the “Monster”?

23

* 1964 in Geneva. Nicolas Wadimoff founded the production company Akka Films in 2003 and has been working as director and producer for both fiction and documentary films. His latest films SPARTIATES (2014), OPERATION LIBERTAD (2012) and AISHEEN (STILL ALIVE IN GAZA) (2010) have been shown at prestigious international film festivals.

C om I N G S O O N

Expected SUMMER 2016

MIRR 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 TIME OF CLOSURE (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 Mondulkiri, 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 Binchey and other villagers, film director Mehdi Sahebi stages the story of this confiscation of the land and its ramifications.

24

Switzerland 90 min.

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

C oming S oon

Expected Summer 2016

The Other Half Of The Sky – Stories Of Chinese Businesswomen Patrik Soergel

Switzerland 80 min.

Original languages: Mandarin/Chinese Production: PIC Film SA, Massagno RSI Radiotelevisione svizzera World Rights: PIC Film SA, Massagno T +41 91 966 38 71 www.picfilm.ch

The film explores the huge transformation taking place in China today, from the perspectives of four of the country's most powerful businesswomen. They experienced the austerity of China's Cultural Revolution, followed by the subsequent economic boom. Though growing up in a patriarchal society, they have risen from nothing and have become symbols of change.

How did they create their empires? What is the social and economic context in which they operate? And what is the price they had to pay to climb the ladder?

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* 1977 in Locarno. Patrik Soergel studied directing and editing at the European Film College in Ebeltoft and at the FAMU in Prague. He works as filmmaker in Switzerland, Germany and the USA. His film THE SOUND AFTER THE STORM (2009), which he co-directed with Ryan Fenson-Hood and Sven O. Hill premiered at the Zurich Film Festival, where he was awarded with the Golden Eye for Best Documentary.

C om I N G S O O N

Expected Fall 2016

Waiting For Mommy Léa Pool

* 1950 in Geneva. Léa Pool emigrated to Quebec in 1975, where she worked as a filmmaker since 1978. Pool is especially known for her award-winning fiction films ANNE TRISTER (1996), A CORPS PERDU (1987), EMPORTE-MOI (1999) as well as her latest film LA PASSION D’AUGUSTINE (2015). Her last documentary PINK RIBBONS INC. (2011) on breast cancer premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Most women in prison are mothers. When a mother is imprisoned, her newborn or her young child can remain with her in prison or they can be separated and taken in by a family member or by the State. These situations aren’t without risk for the child. The film takes the child’s point of view and its goal is to cast a light on them: too often they are forgotten, invisible and bare scars for their entire life. Léa Pool follows the daily lives of some of these kids in Bolivia, Nepal, New York and Montreal.

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Switzerland / Canada 90 min.

Original languages: German/English/ French/Nepali Production: Catpics AG, Adliswil Cinémaginaire International Inc., Montreal SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen World Sales: First Hand Films GmbH, Zurich T +41 44 312 20 60 www.firsthandfilms.com

I n P rod u ction

Almost There

Eldorado

I Am Gentrification: Confessions Of A Scoundrel

Jacqueline Zünd

Markus Imhoof

Thomas Haemmerli

director of Goodnight Nobody (2010)

director of More Than Honey (2012) and The Boat Is Full (1981)

director of Seven Dumpsters And A Corpse (2007)

Hugofilm Productions GmbH, Zurich Intermezzo Films SA, Geneva Planned for Fall 2016

Thelma Film AG, Undervelier Ormenis Film AG, Zurich zero one film GmbH, Berlin Planned for Summer 2016

ican films gmbh, Zurich Planned for Spring 2017

La fureur de voir

L'Opéra de Paris

The Congo Tribunal

Manuel von Stürler

Jean-Stéphane Bron

Milo Rau

director of Winter Nomads (2012)

director of The Blocher Experience (2013) Cleveland Versus Wall Street (2010) and Corn in Parliament (2003)

director of The Moscow Trials (2013) and Hate Radio (2012)

Bande à part Films, Lausanne Les Films du Tambour de Soie, Marseille Planned for Winter 2016

Bande à part Films, Lausanne Les Films Pelléas, Paris Planned for Spring 2017

Fruitmarket Arts und Medien GmbH, Cologne Langfilm Bernard Lang AG, Freienstein International Institute of Political Murder IIPM, Berlin / Zurich Planned for Fall 2016

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Visit us at our stands at: Berlinale European Film Market EFM Cannes Village International Festival del film Locarno Toronto International Film Festival