Docs Spring 2017

DOCS SPRING

T ea m

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DOCS Spring 2017 Swiss Docs Spring 2017

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

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

Marcel Müller Film Consultant, VOD, Programmes mmueller@swissfilms.ch T +41 79 787 93 88

Sylvain Vaucher Consultant Short Films svaucher@swissfilms.ch T +41 79 542 83 80

New Docs – Features

3

New Docs – Shorts

12

Festival Favourites

15

Coming Soon

18

In Production

31

Published in March 2017 Cover: LUST FOR SIGHT by Manuel von Stürler Back cover: MY LIFE IS A GUNSHOT by Marcel Derek Ramsay

N e w D ocs – F eat u res

A Campaign Of Their Own Lionel Rupp

Switzerland 2017, 80 min.

Original language: English Production: Zooscope Production, Lausanne Producer: Michael David Mitchell World Sales: Fortissimo Films, Amsterdam gabrielle@fortissimofilms.com T +31 20 215 93 10 www.fortissimofilms.com

Jonathan Katz is convinced that only US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders can transform the country. Swept up by his enthusiasm for the socialist senator, he joins thousands of other activists in New York City to get him on the ballot. But as the primaries come to an end and Sanders concedes the race to Hillary Clinton in Philadelphia, Jonathan does not give up and accuses the Democratic party of cheating and being responsible for the defeat of the one everyone calls Bernie. A political documentary

by Lionel Rupp and Michael David Mitchell.

3

* 1983 in Meyrin. Lionel Rupp attended the film school HEAD in Geneva and cofounded Zooscope Production in 2008. Rupp was one of the ten directors of WONDERLAND, which premiered at the Festival del film Locarno 2015 (International Competition).

A CAMPAIGN OF THEIR OWN is his first feature documentary film.

N e w D ocs – F eat u res

Farewell To Africa Adieu à l'Afrique Pierre-Alain Meier

* 1952 in Delemont. Pierre-Alain Meier founded Thelma Film in 1988 and took over Prince Film in 2006. Meier produced and coproduced more than 30 fiction and documentary films all around the wold and worked with directors such as Fernando Solanas, Philippe Garrel, Alain Tanner and Markus Imhoof. He is the producer of the award-winning documentary MORE THAN HONEY (2012) and the director of THELMA (2001) for which he received the Zürich Film Award. With FAREWELL TO AFRICA Meier returns to Africa and tells a personal story.

In 2009 the body of Alice B. is found washed up on an African beach. Next to the corpse of the white, 30-year-old European woman lie those of a dozen black migrants. Eight years after this tragedy, Pierre-Alain Meier travels to Senegal in the hope of understanding the story behind this shipwreck. When he was Alice’s age, he wandered the streets of Dakar planning the production of the film Hyenas. The filmmaker today puts his own story into perspective, with humility and affection, allowing us access to a very intimate terrain.

4

Switzerland 2017, 87 min.

Original languages: French / Wolof Production and World Rights: Prince Film SA, Undervelier T +41 32 426 73 04 www.princefilm.ch

N e w D ocs – F eat u res

In Art We Trust Benoît Rossel

Switzerland / France 2017, 85 min.

Original languages: French / English World premiere: Solothurn Film Festival 2017 International premiere: CPH:DOX Copenhagen 2017 Production: Close Up Films, Geneva Zadig Productions, Paris RTS Radio Télévision Suisse World Rights: Close Up Films, Geneva T +41 22 808 08 46 joelle@closeupfilms.ch www.closeupfilms.ch

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. A lively, playful and moving allegory of the image of the artist in contemporary society.

5

* 1969 in France. Documentary filmmaker Benoît Rossel has both Swiss and French citizenship and studied film at ECAL in Lausanne. Since 1997 Rossel also works as professor at the Visual Communication Department of ECAL. He is especially known for his last documentary LE THÉÂTRE DES OPÉRATIONS (2007) for which he was awarded as Best Swiss Film at Visions du Réel in Nyon.

N e w D ocs – F eat u res

Lust For Sight La fureur de voir Manuel von Stürler

Faced with the threat of blindness, the director has launched himself into a quest to find out what visual perception means. His “lust for sight” fuels an initiatory journey which plunges us into the world of vision, and attempts to answer the question: what does it mean to SEE? * 1968 in Lausanne. Joint Swiss and French citizenship. Manuel von Stürler is the director of the award-winning documentary WINTER NOMADS (2012) which was selected for many international film festivals worldwide and won several awards such as the Bayard d’Or de la Meilleure Photographie and the Audience Award in Namur, the Grand Prix at Visions du Réel, the European Documentary Film Award 2012 as well as the Swiss Film Award for Best Cinematography and the Special Award of the Academy in 2013.

6

Switzerland / France 2017, 85 min.

Original languages: French / English Production: Bande à part Films, Lausanne RTS Radio Télévision Suisse Les Films du Tambour de Soie, Marseille World Rights: Bande à part Films, Lausanne T +41 21 311 90 34 www.bandeapartfilms.com

N e w D ocs – F eat u res

Retour au Palais Yamina Zoutat

Switzerland / France 2017, 87 min.

Original language: French Production: Elefant Films, Geneva Les Films d'Ici, Paris RTS Radio Télévision Suisse World Rights: Elefant Films, Geneva T +41 22 301 65 00 admin@elefantfilms.ch www.elefantfilms.ch

“The first time I ever stepped into the Courthouse in Paris, I was twenty. It was already a thousand years old monument. 6999 doors, 3150 windows and 24 kilometres of corridors, according to the legend.

On the nights when I had to stay late awaiting a verdict, I would step away from the lights and sink into darker and darker corridors. I would hear rumblings coming from deep down. I had the feeling that the House was alive and it appeared to be moving.

Its impending removal hastens my return. From its maze of passages and my encounters, from its lurking stories, the portrait of an abstraction emerges piece by piece: justice.” Yamina Zoutat

7

* 1970 in Yverdon. Yamina Zoutat studied journalism at the Sorbonne University in Paris and worked as court reporter for TF1 from 1994–2004. She is currently teaching audiovisual writing and legal journalism at the Panthéon-Assas University in Paris. Her medium length documentary film LES LESSIVEUSES (2010) was awarded at Visions du Réel in Nyon. RETOUR AU PALAIS is Zoutat's first documentary feature film.

N e w D ocs – F eat u res

Roped Encordés

Frédéric Favre

* 1976 in Sion. Frédéric Favre received an MA in Literature, Philosophy and Cinema in 2002 and an MA in Film from ECAL/HEADGenève in 2014. His latest documentary film CYCLIC (2015) premiered at Visions du Réel in Nyon and was screened at festivals in Locarno, Munich, Montreal among others.

After having immersed in the world of the bicycle messengers in CYCLIC, Favre presents an intimate portrait of three devoted ski mountaineers in the Swiss Alps.

For one and a half years, the filmmaker follows three ski mountaineers as they prepare for the Patrouille des Glaciers, an incredibly tough race across the Swiss Alps. Florence wants to take part in memory of her father, but she is not used to engage in a team. Guillaume is an accomplished competitor. He struggles to find a balance between family, work and his passion.

Antoine has just left rehab. Now he’s eager to prove his worth to the world. A raw and intimate journey into the three protagonists' innermost motivations and the story of how this adventure transforms them.

8

Switzerland 2017, 106 min.

Original language: French Production: Lomotion AG Filmproduktion, Bern BR / ARTE, Munich Telepool SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen RTS Radio Télévision Suisse World Rights: Lomotion AG Filmproduktion, Bern T + 41 31 388 00 89 www.lomotion.ch

N e w D ocs – F eat u res

The Great Journey

Les Grandes Traversées David Maye

Switzerland 2017, 65 min.

Original language: French Production: Terrain Vague, Lausanne RTS Radio Télévision Suisse World Rights: Terrain Vague, Lausanne T +41 79 297 85 26 maye@terrainvague.ch

When confronted with life's finiteness, a family views a loved one's illness through different lenses. A daughter, Anne-Michèle, focuses on a second pregnancy and the perpetuation of life; a father, Jean-Francois chooses to enlarge the family's abode to embrace the arrival of a new grandchild. And a son, David, wields his camera to capture heartfelt moments of each one's perspectives through different lenses. An upfront and intimate portrayal of a family's resilience in the face of personal loss.

9

* 1984, Valais. David Maye studied Film at ECAL in Lausanne. He has directed several short documentaries such as OFF THE ROAD (2013) nominated for the Swiss Film Award, MAYE AND SON (2010), Premio Lorenzo de’ Medici 2010 Festival dei Popoli, and ANGELA (2010), Premio Action Light for the Best Swiss Newcomer 2010 at Locarno Festival del Film Locarno. THE GREAT JOURNEY is Maye's first documentary feature film.

N e w D ocs – F eat u res

The Paris Opera L'Opéra de Paris Jean-Stéphane Bron

In turn ironic, light-hearted and cruel, encompassing music and ballet, the film turns the spotlight on great passions, and tells the story of life behind the scenes at one of the most prestigious performing arts institutions in the world. * 1969 in Lausanne. Jean-Stéphane Bron is one of Switzerland's most acclaimed and award-winning documentary filmmakers.

Bron is especially known for his films CORN IN PARLIAMENT (2003), CLEVELAND VERSUS WALL STREET (2010) and THE BLOCHER EXPERIENCE (2013), which were screened and awarded at numerous international festivals.

He is currently working on his documentary THE BRAIN (LE CERVEAU), expected fall 2017.

10

France / Switzerland 2017, 110 min.

Original language: French Production: Les Films Pelléas, Paris Bande à part Films, Lausanne RTS Radio Télévision Suisse Orange Studio France 2 Cinéma World Sales: Les Films du Losange, Paris T +33 1 44 43 87 10 www.filmsdulosange.fr

N e w D ocs – F eat u res

Vape Wave Jan Kounen

Switzerland 2016, 85 min.

Original languages: French / English World premiere: Festival Tous Ecrans Geneva 2016 International premiere: CPH:DOX Copenhagen 2017 Production: Media Screen, Lausanne RTS Radio Télévision Suisse World Rights: E-Moovie, Carouge T +41 78 918 48 38 marc.oberon@e-moovie.com quentin.daniel@e-moovie.com www.e-moovie.com

The documentary aims to be the first and most thorough film about the electronic cigarette's incredible worldwide phenomenon. The filmmaker dives head first into the ever growing vaping world, taking us around the globe to discover this ongoing cultural revolution, the first real alternative to traditional deadly tobacco smoking. www.vapewave.net

11

* 1964 in Utrecht, Holland. Jan Kounen is a french director, producer and screenwriter of Dutch origin. He studied at ENSAD in Nice and is especially known for his fiction films DOBERMANN (1997), BLUEBERRY (2004), 99 FRANCS (2007) and COCO CHANEL & IGOR STRAVINSKY (2009).

N e w D ocs – S h orts

Anthony, The Invisible One

Before The Flight

En La Boca

Maya Kosa / Sergio Da Costa

Laurence Bonvin

Matteo Gariglio

Switzerland | 2017 | 16 min.

Original language: Portuguese

Switzerland / Ivory Coast | 2016 | 20 min.

Original language: French

Switzerland | 2016 | 25 min.

Original language: Spanish

Production and World Rights: Alogon Films, Geneva alogonfilms@gmail.com In an art museum, a guide presents a famous pictorial triptych to three audiences: sighted people, blind people and a deaf and blind man. In a manner that is specific to each audience, the painting is unveiled little by little.

World premiere: Int’l Kurzfilmtage Winterthur 2016 (Award for Best Cinematography) International premiere: Berlinale 2017 (Berlinale Shorts) Production: Laurence Bonvin, Switzerland Goethe-Institut Côte d'Ivoire, Abidjan World Rights: Laurence Bonvin, Switzerland T +41 79 258 36 28 T +49 171 704 10 47 www.laurencebonvin.com An exploration of the current state of some significant modernist and governmental buildings in Abidjan, the largest and most important city of Ivory Coast. As an architectural tour as well as a tribute to the remarkable buildings from the 60s, 70s and 80s, the film pays special attention to users and visitors, to their gestures and ways of informally appropriating the spaces.

World premiere: Int’l Kurzfilmtage Winterthur 2016 (Special Mention Swiss Competition) International premiere: Küstendorf Int'l Film Festival 2017 (Bronze Egg Award) Production and World Rights: Matteo Gariglio, Lucerne info@matteogariglio.com www.matteogariglio.com

Antão, o invisível

all short docs available in our

SHORT FILM LIBRARY www.swissfilms.ch/shortfilmlibrary

Avant l'envol

12

In Buenos Aires, the Molina family lives and works in the shadows of the legendary Boca Juniors stadium. Selling fake tickets to the soccer games, they constantly get in conflict with the corrupt police. As her family sinks deeper into this underworld, the mother tries in vain to keep them all from falling apart.

N e w D ocs – S h orts

Hypertable – Essai On Friendship In The Woods Hypertable – essai sur l'amitié

Ins Holz

Ma Yan Chan – Waves Of Transition

Filippo Filliger

Corina Schwingruber Ilić / Thomas Horat

Jonas Scheu

Switzerland | 2017 | 20 min.

Original languages: French / Italian / Swiss-German / English

Switzerland | 2017 | 13 min.

Original language: Swiss-German

Switzerland | 2017 | 29 min.

Original language: Burmese

Production and World Rights: Filippo Filliger, Geneva T +41 78 654 69 23 23f@10111.org I asked a few friends to give me some of their time and an object, in order for us to try and understand together what binds us. And, fragment by fragment, out of the sounds and the images we produced, surfaces the friendship archipelago.

World premiere: Clermont-Ferrand 2017 (Int’l Competition) Production and World Rights: Mythenfilm, Schwyz T +41 41 820 02 72 thomas@mythenfilm.ch www.mythenfilm.ch Snow, ice, sweat and the sound of chainsaws.

Every four years, over a period of three months in winter, wood is cut in a steep mountain forest above Lake Aegeri in the Canton of Zug and prepared for log rafting. Neither technology nor progress has been able to replace this traditional craft.

Production: Master HES-SO ECAL / HEAD, Renens Amrit Medias Sàrl, Les Thioleyres World Rights: Master HES-SO ECAL / HEAD, Renens jean_guillaume.sonnier@ecal.ch

all short docs available in our

SHORT FILM LIBRARY www.swissfilms.ch/shortfilmlibrary

13

Since generations, the dockers and their families live and work at the Ayeyarwady riverbank in Mandalay, the ancient royal capital of Myanmar. In a time of great transition, their lifestyle is subdued to lasting transformations.

Against their will, the authorities try to dislocate them into newly built concrete buildings.

N e w D ocs – S h orts

Miss Rain

Rewind Forward

Sing A Rainbow

Charlie Petersmann

Justin Stoneham

Luzius Wespe / Lukas Gut

Switzerland | 2017 | 38 min.

Original language: Khmer

Switzerland | 2017 | 24 min.

Original languages: Swiss German / English

Switzerland / China | 2017 | 17 min.

Original language: Chinese

Production and World Rights: Mnemosyn Films, Geneva T +41 77 432 93 52 mnemosynfilms.ch In remote areas of Cambodia, Miss Rain, a woman haunted by her tragic past, makes a journey to the place where she lost her relatives during the genocide, thirty years earlier.

An intimate look at a life caught between past and present, struggling with its spirits and ghosts.

Production: La Belle Film GmbH, Zurich SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen World Rights: La Belle Film GmbH, Zurich T +41 78 790 06 49 www.labellefilm.com All his life, Justin managed to escape his own story. But his past catches up with him when he finds a box full of old family VHS tapes. A film that begins as an homage to his deceased father develops into an attempt to no longer be a stranger to his own mother.

Production: outreach gmbh, Bern Shanghai Theatre Academy STA, Shanghai World Rights: outreach gmbh Switzerland, Bern T +41 79 667 96 37 www.outreachgmbh.ch

all short docs available in our

SHORT FILM LIBRARY www.swissfilms.ch/shortfilmlibrary

14

Two young Chinese live in the megacity Shanghai with a population of 24 million. Driven by the desire for self-determination they try to express themselves through cooking, art and singing.

F estival F avo u rites

Almost There

Cahier africain

Jacqueline Zünd

Heidi Specogna

Switzerland | 2016 | 80 min.

Original languages: English / Japanese

Switzerland / Germany | 2016 | 119 min.

Original languages: French / Arabic / Sango

Festivals (selection): IDFA 2016 (First Appearance) | Solothurn Film Festival 2017 Production: Hugofilm Productions GmbH, Zurich | Intermezzo Films SA, Geneva | SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen | RTS Radio Télévision Suisse | SRG SSR | ARTE World Sales: First Hand Films GmbH, Zurich T +41 44 312 20 60 | www.firsthandfilms.com

Festivals (selection): Festival del film Locarno 2016 (Settimana della critica, Premio Zonta Club Award) | DOK Leipzig 2016 (Silver Dove Award / Interreligious Jury Prize) | LOLA at Berlinale 2017 Production: PS Film GmbH, Zurich | Filmpunkt GmbH, Cologne | ZDF / 3sat World Sales: Rushlake Media GmbH, Cologne T +49 221 58 83 21 80 | www.rushlake-media.com It all started with a school exercise book, which revealed the crimes of Congolese mercenaries against Central African women, girls and men. On their own initiative they gathered their testimonies to record the crimes committed against them. The film is a long-term observation that begins in 2008. While the victims try to master their difficult daily lives with confidence – and while the legal prosecution of war crimes committed is still in progress – the next war breaks out.

Three men embark on a journey in search of meaning and happiness in the autumn of their lives. Bob swaps his safe home for a campervan and tries to find the tough guy inside himself in the barren Californian desert. Drag queen and stand-up comedian Steve is fed up of England and makes amends with his past between Benidorm’s concrete towers. And Yamada rediscovers his smile by reading stories to children in Tokyo.

15

F estival F avo u rites

Ghost Hunting

I Am Not Your Negro

Raed Andoni

Raoul Peck

France / Switzerland / Palestine | 2017 | 90 min.

Original language: Arabic

France / USA / Belgium / Switzerland | 2016 | 92 min.

Original language: English

Festivals (selection): Berlinale 2017 (Panorama, Glashütte Original Documentary Film Prize / 3rd Place Panorama Audience Award) | Human Rights Geneva 2017 | Cinéma du Réel Paris 2017 Production: Les Films de Zayna, Paris | Akka Films, Geneva | Dar Films, Ramallah | ARTE | RTS Radio Télévision Suisse World Sales: Urban Distribution International, Paris T +33 1 48 70 46 56 | www.urbandistrib.com

Festivals (selection): Toronto 2016 | Berlinale 2017 (Panorama Audience Award) | CPH:DOX Copenhagen 2017 Production: Velvet Film, Paris / New York | Artémis Productions, Brussels | Close Up Films, Geneva | ITVS International | ARTE | RTBF | RTS Radio Télévision Suisse World Sales: Wide House, Paris T +33 1 53 95 04 64 | infos@widehouse.org Told entirely in the words of James Baldwin, through both personal appearances and the text of his final unfinished book project, his documentary touches on the tragic deaths of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and Medgar Evers to bring powerful clarity to how the image and reality of Blacks in America today is fabricated and enforced.

La chasse aux fantômes

In order to confront the ghosts that haunt him, the Palestinian director decides to build the replicate of Al-Moskobiya, Israel's main interrogation centre, where he was jailed at age 18. Helped by ex-inmates, he attempts to re-enact a story that took place inside the centre’s walls.

16

F estival F avo u rites

The Girl Down Loch Änzi

Wild Plants

Alice Schmid

Nicolas Humbert

Switzerland | 2016 | 87 min.

Original languages: Swiss-German / German

Switzerland / Germany | 2016 | 104 min.

Original languages: English / German / French

Festivals (selection): IDFA Amsterdam 2016 (First Appearance) | Solothurn Film Festival 2017 | Festival Int’l de Films de Femmes Créteil 2017 Production: Ciné A.S. GmbH, Zurich | SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen World Rights: Ciné A.S. GmbH, Zurich | T +41 44 202 49 69 | www.aliceschmid.ch

Festivals (selection): Visions du Réel Nyon 2016 (International Competition) | DOK.fest Munich 2016 (Special Mention Documentary Film Music Award) | CPH:DOX Copenhagen 2017 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.

Das Mädchen vom Änziloch

The pivotal summer for 12-year-old Laura, who lives in a beautiful remote area in the Swiss mountains. As the only daughter in a taciturn family of farmers and mostly left to her own, she becomes obsessed with the legends told about a gorge in the area where no one dares to go. When a boy from town arrives to help on the farm she finally has a friend to share her fears and fantasies with. After he has left she takes the courage to explore the mysterious place all by herself.

17

ComING SOON

Expected Fall 2017

A Long Way Home Luc Schaedler

*1963 in Switzerland Luc Schaedler studied visual anthropology and film at Zurich University. He started as independent documentary filmmaker in 1995. In 2001 he founded his own production company go between films gmbh. Schaedler is known for MADE IN HONG KONG (1997), screened in competition at DOK Leipzig, ANGRY MONK (2005), selected for the Sundance Film Festival (World Cinema) and WATERMARKS – THREE LETTERS FROM CHINA (2013), which premiered at the Festival del Film Locarno (Semaine de la critique).

Five Chinese artists stand at the centre of the film: the modern dancer Wen Hui, the writer Ye Fu, the cartoonist Pi San and the visual artists Gao Brothers. They are part of a fragile yet courageous counterculture. Taking their own family stories as starting points, they explore the echoes of the past in order to understand the predicaments of the present. Increasingly, their struggle for a democratic civil society seems as relevant for the world today as it is for China.

18

Switzerland 95 min.

Original language: Chinese Production: go between films GmbH, Zurich Recycled TV AG, Bern SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen World Sales: Wide House, Paris T +33 1 53 95 04 64 infos@widehouse.org

ComING SOON

Expected Summer 2017

Agnus Dei

(working title) Karim Sayad

Switzerland / France 85 min.

Original language: Arabic Production: Close Up Films, Geneva Norte Productions, Paris World Rights: Close Up Films, Geneva T +41 22 808 08 46 joelle@closeupfilms.ch www.closeupfilms.ch

Algiers, Bab el Oued, 2016. Men and sheep.

16-year-old Habib dreams of becoming a veterinary. But as he didn’t study, he bought a sheep named El Bouq. His dream? Train it to become a sheep fight champion. Samir, 42, doesn’t have dreams anymore, other than making money to survive the hardships of his daily life by selling sheep. As the Eid celebration approaches, Samir has the unique opportunity to maximize his profits, as the whole country will buy sheep to be slaughtered. But for Habib, it’s another story.

Will El Bouq become a champion? Or will he face a more tragic destiny?

19

*1984 in Lausanne. Joint Swiss and Algerian citizenship. After getting a Master’s degree in International Relations from Geneva’s Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID), Karim Sayad directed his first short documentary film, BABOR CASANOVA (2015), which was awarded at doclisboa, at the Festival dei Popoli in Florence and at the International Short Film Festival Clermont-Ferrand among others.

C o m ing S oon

Expected FALL 2017

Chris The Swiss Anja Kofmel

* 1982 in Lugano. Anja Kofmel studied animation film at the Lucerne School of Art and Design (HSLU) and graduated in 2009 in visual communication, specialization in animation film. Her Bachelor’s degree film CHRIGI (2009) has been awarded at numerous international film festivals. Since 2010 she has been working as animation and documentary filmmaker and illustrator.

The highly expected anidoc CHRIS THE SWISS is Kofmel's first feature film.

Why are young men so fascinated by war? Today just as back in the nineties when war was raging in Ex-Yugoslavia? On January 7th, 1992, the young Swiss journalist «Chris» Christian Würtenberg was found dead in Croatia. Strangled with his scarf, still wearing the uniform of a platoon of international fighters. Twentyfive years later his cousin, director Anja Kofmel, researches Chris’ murder and the reasons why young men voluntarily go to war.

20

Switzerland / Croatia / Germany AniDoc, 90 min.

2D Computer animation Original languages: German / Swiss-German / English / Spanish Production: Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion AG, Zurich Nukleus Film, Zagreb MA.JA.DE. Filmproduktion, Leipzig World Rights: Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion AG, Zurich T +41 44 456 30 20 www.dvfilm.ch

ComING SOON

Expected Summer 2017

Eldorado Markus Imhoof

Switzerland / Germany 120 min.

Original languages: Italian / English / French / German / Arabic / Swiss-German / Wolof Production: Thelma Film AG, Undervelier zero one film GmbH, Berlin SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen BR World Rights: Thelma Film AG, Undervelier T +41 32 426 73 04 meier@thelmafilm.ch and zero one film GmbH, Berlin T +49 30 390 66 30 thomas@zeroone.de

“At the end of the war, my mother took me along to the freight yard in Winterthur to pick out a Red Cross refugee child. All of them were pallid and gaunt, with a slip of paper tied round their neck.� Markus Imhoof * 1941 in Winterthur. Markus Imhoof is the director of the award-winning documentary MORE THAN HONEY (2012), which was screened and awarded at numerous film festivals worldwide. It was awarded as Best Documentary at the Swiss Film Award as well as at the German Film Award LOLA. Imhoof is also known for his fiction film THE BOAT IS FULL (1981), which was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Foreign Language Film.

21

ComING SOON

Expected Spring 2017

Fell In Love With A Girl Kaleo La Belle

* 1973 in Maui, USA. Joint Swiss and American citizenship. Kaleo La Belle studied at the University for Electronic Arts in New York, art and video department, as well as at the renowned Lucerne School of Art and Design (HSLU), video department.

La Belle shot several experimental short films before he directed his first feature length documentary BEYOND THIS PLACE (2010), which was awarded as Best Swiss Film at Visions du RĂŠel in Nyon and as Best Documentary at Krakow Film Festival.

A film about longstanding relationships, family and the deep consequences of falling in love.

While exploring themes of love in music, poetry and art, the filmmaker reflects on his life and the journeys on which love has taken him. Now, a new journey will test him again, an intercontinental exodus to keep his family together. A real and intimate portrait about the complexity of love.

22

Switzerland 125 min.

Original languages: English / German Production: La Belle Film GmbH, Zurich SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen Recycled TV AG, Bern World Rights: La Belle Film GmbH, Zurich T +41 78 790 06 49 www.labellefilm.com

ComING SOON

Expected Fall 2017

First Things and Last Things

Das Erste und das Letzte Kaspar Kasics

Switzerland 90 min.

Original language: Swiss-German Production and World Rights: Tilt Production GmbH, Zurich T +41 43 960 39 15 www.tiltproduction.com

Life is a whole, even if we long fail to recognize it. Psychologist Jacqueline von Kaenel eluded this understanding her whole life. Upon suddenly learning of her imminent death, she begins to search for the key to her life. Unsparingly, she looks back and discovers how everything is connected; her privileged youth in Franco’s Spain with her mother’s feudal past in eastern Prussia, her desire for music with the one for a dominant and powerful husband. In her ambition to be a perfect mother, she recognizes her fight for identity. But all of a sudden experiences from her chiIdhood in a seemingIy happy famiIy crop up turning everything upside down.

23

Kaspar Kasics studied Music, German and Philosophy, before working as editor and director for Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen SRF. Since 1990 he works 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), for the renowned documentary NO MORE SMOKE SIGNALS (2008), which he produced and for YES NO MAYBE, a documentary film about love.

ComING SOON

Expected SUMMER 2017

Glow Gabriel Baur

Gabriel Baur obtained an MA in Cultural Anthropology, Psychology and Mass Communications and studied film at New York University. In 1983 she cofounded Onix Film. Baur is especially known for her documentary film VENUS BOYZ (2001), a festival hit, which was selected for the Festival del Film Locarno, the Berlinale and for the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival among others. It was awarded in Locarno and nominated for a Swiss Film Award.

She was a muse, model and performer – a star, dazzling and intense. Lady Shiva rose from street prostitution to the top, was admired and disdained. She lived in the fast lane and died tragically young. Her dream was to become a singer. With her companions, we trace her life during a vibrant time that kindles a yearning and provokes until today. It's the story of a woman’s meteoric fate and a great dream. An irrepressible desire for freedom in all its beauty and destructive force – a stirring friendship and love.

24

Switzerland 98 min.

Original languages: Swiss-German / German / English Production and World Rights: ONIX Film GmbH, Zurich T +41 44 272 38 00 www.onixfilms.com

ComING SOON

Expected Fall 2017

I Am Gentrification: Confessions Of A Scoundrel Die Gentrifzierung bin ich: Beichte eines Finsterlings Thomas Haemmerli

Switzerland 90 min.

Original languages: German / English 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

An autobiographical essay film which addresses habitation, space, density, gentrification and urban development. The film’s main arc spans the author’s diverse living environments, beginning with his childhood on Zürichberg to squats, shared flats and yuppie abodes, as well as his various dwellings in such metropolises as Tiflis, São Paulo and Mexico City. It concludes with his new spatial environments some 50 years later when he became a father of two children.

25

* 1964 in Zurich. Thomas Haemmerli works as author, journalist, columnist and film director.

Haemmerli shot several experimental films before he directed his first feature documentary film SEVEN DUMPSTERS AND A CORPSE (2007). The award-winning family saga on his messie mother was selected for many international film festivals such as Hot Docs in Toronto and the Festival del film Locarno.

ComING SOON

Expected Spring 2017

My Life Is a Gunshot Marcel Derek Ramsay

* 1969 in Switzerland. Marcel Derek Ramsay works as a photographer, cinematographer and film editor. In 2008 he founded the production company Cinéma Copain and has produced various short and feature length films. Ramsay made his directorial feature length debut with THE MASTER AND MAX (2015), a unique compilation film, assembled from works by the well-known Swiss director Clemens Klopfenstein.

Noise artist Joke Lanz has a loyal fan base. And a revolting image: it’s not unusual for blood to flow on stage. For most people, his music is nothing but an excruciating noise anyway.

How does a person come to live that way? The film shadows a sensitive artist haunted by a decades-old trauma: when he was 13 years old, his father went up onto the roof of the house and shot himself. Ever since then, Joke has been trying to find a way of dealing with it. And also with his own role as a father, which has been affected, too.

26

Switzerland 91 min.

Original languages: Swiss-German / German / English / French Production and World Rights: Cinéma Copain, Zurich T +41 43 322 05 11 www.cinemacopain.com

ComING SOON

Expected Summer 2017

Stray Bullet Jean-Cosme Delaloye

Switzerland 80 min.

Original language: English Production: Tipi'mages Productions sàrl, Geneva RTS Radio Télévision Suisse World Sales: Cargo Film & Releasing, New York T +1 212 995 81 39 www.cargofilm-releasing.com

On July 5, 2014, 12-year-old Genesis Rincon was the innocent victim of a settling of scores between two gangs in Paterson, a town in the suburbs of New York. She collapsed before the eyes of her 11-year-old sister Alexis as they were on their way home from the grocer's. This is the chronicle of a child's death foretold in a moribund American town.

27

* 1975 in Switzerland. Jean-Cosme Delaloye works as a journalist and director in New York City. Since 2009 he specializes in radio documentaries on Central America. His second documentary about kidnappings in Guatemala, LA PRENDA (2015), has been selected for many festivals such as FICG Guadalajara, FIFDH Geneva and Hot Docs Toronto.

ComING SOON

Expected Fall 2017

The Blue Note Project (working title)

Das Blue Note Projekt (working title) Sophie Huber

* 1971 in Bern. Sophie Huber studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Institute in Los Angeles.

She worked as a performer for several theatre and film productions in Switzerland as well as Germany and cofounded the Berlin film collective hangover ltd.* Her awardwinning first documentary feature film HARRY DEAN STANTON: PARTY FICTION (2012) beacame a huge festival hit. It premiered in Venice at the Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica and was selcted for the IDFA, SXSW, KVIFF, RIDM and the Festival del film Locarno and many more.

The film tells the story of the legendary American jazz record label. It places the music and the musicians in the foreground, and portrays the eternal quest for artistic expression – from the creation of groundbreaking Blue Note classics to the contemporary search for new forms of expression. With her keen musical instinct, director Sophie Huber makes jazz accessible to a wider audience.

28

Switzerland / USA 90 min.

Original language: English Production: Mira Film GmbH, Zurich SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen Isotope Films, New York World Sales: Eagle Rock Entertainment, London T +44 20 88 70 56 70 www.eagle-rock.com

ComING SOON

Expected Summer 2017

The Congo Tribunal

Das Kongo Tribunal Milo Rau

Germany / Switzerland 100 min.

Original languages: German / French / English / Swahili / Kongo Production: Fruitmarket Arts und Medien GmbH, Cologne Langfilm – Bernard Lang AG, Freienstein Int'l Institute of Political Murder IIPM, Cologne / Zurich SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen RTS Radio Télévision Suisse ZDF in collaboration with ARTE World Rights: Fruitmarket Arts und Medien GmbH, Cologne T +49 221 887 55 13 www.fruitmarket.de Langfilm – Bernard Lang AG, Freienstein T +41 44 865 66 27 www.langfilm.ch

In the form of a tribunal with an international cast and filmed on-location in Eastern Congo and in Berlin, the film examines the causes and backgrounds for the war now ongoing for almost 20 years in the Great Lakes region. The result is a humanly harrowing, profound analytic tableau of the neo-colonial world order. * 1977 in Bern. Milo Rau studied Sociology, German and Roman studies in Paris, Zurich and Berlin. In 2007 he founded the theatre and film production company International Institute of Political Murder (IIPM). He is known for his documentary films THE LAST DAYS OF THE CEAUSESCUS (2010) and THE MOSCOW TRIALS (2014). Rau works as a journalist, author and lecturer and lives in Zurich and Cologne. THE CONGO TRIBUNAL is his third feature length documentary.

29

ComING SOON

Expected SUMMER 2017

Where Are You, João Gilberto?

Wo bist du, João Gilberto?

Georges Gachot

* 1962 in France. Joint Swiss and French citizenship. Georges Gachot studied piano and musicology and has been working as a film director since 1990. Gachot is known for his documentaries on musicians, composers and performers, like MARTHA ARGERICH, EVENING TALKS (2002) and his trilogy on Brasilian music: MARIA BETHÂNIA, MUSICA É PERFUME (2005), RIO SONATA (2010) and O SAMBA (2014). With WHERE ARE YOU, JOÃO GILBERTO? Gachot successfully continues to depict the Brasilian music industry.

The film sets out in the footsteps of German writer Marc Fischer who obsessively searched for the last musical legend of our time, the founding father of Bossa Nova, Brazilian musician João Gilberto. Fischer described his journey in a book, Hobalala, but committed suicide one week before it was published. By taking up Marc Fischer’s quest, following his steps one by one, thanks to all the clues he left us, we pursue João Gilberto to understand the history, the very soul and essence of Bossa Nova. But who can tell whether we will meet him or not?

30

Switzerland / Germany / France 100 min.

Original languages: Portuguese / German / English / French Production: Gachot Films, Zurich NEOS Film GmbH & Co.KG, Munich Idéale Audience, Paris ARTE / BR SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen RTS Radio Télévision Suisse World Sales: Doc & Film International, Paris T +33 1 42 77 56 87 www.docandfilm.com

IN PRODUCTION

Becoming Animal

Forever (working title) Für immer und ewig (working title)

Peter Mettler / Emma Davie Peter Mettler director of The End Of Time (2012) Petropolis (2009) and Gambling, Gods And LSD (2002)

Fanny Bräuning director of No More Smoke Signals (2008) Paloma (2001) and Meine Mutter (1999)

maximage GmbH, Zurich Scottish Documentary Institute, Edinburgh Planned for Summer 2018

Hugofilm Productions GmbH, Zurich Planned for Spring 2018

Closing Time

Genesis 2.0

Le cerveau

Nicole Vögele director of fog nebel (2014) Frau Loosli (2013) and In die Innereien (2013)

Christian Frei director of Sleepless In New York (2014) Space Tourists (2009) The Giant Buddhas (2005) and War Photographer (2001)

Jean-Stéphane Bron director of The Paris Opera (2017) The Blocher Experience (2013) Cleveland Versus Wall Street (2010) and Corn in Parliament (2003)

Christian Frei Filmproduktion GmbH, Zurich Planned for Spring 2018

Bande à part Films, Lausanne Planned for Fall 2017

Beauvoir Films, Geneva Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg Planned for Winter 2017/18

31

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

Visit us at our stands at: Cannes Village International Festival del film Locarno Toronto International Film Festival Short Film Market in Clermont-Ferrand Berlinale European Film Market EFM