SWISS FILMS PREVIEWS NYON 2025
SWISS FILMS
Neugasse 6, 8005 Zurich www.swissfilms.ch
Published in April 2025
Hosted by SWISS FILMS in collaboration with
SWISS FILMS TEAM CHARLOTTE
EXPECTED SUMMER 2025
THE BEAUTY OF THE DONKEY
written & directed by Dea Gjinovci
A filmmaker returns to Makermal in Kosovo with her father, who has been in exile for sixty years. Together, they recreate his childhood memories with the villagers, despite the destruction of the village. The Kosovo of the 1950s is reborn through this collective project, revealing some shocking truths, including the mysterious disappearance of the director’s grandmother. This journey reveals the resilience of a community where oral histories are the only witnesses to an erased past.
WORLD RIGHTS:
Astrae Productions, Geneva www.astraeprod.com
LOOKING FOR:
World Sales
Int. Distribution
Int. Festival Premiere
CONTACT:
Dea Gjinovci
Astrae Productions dea.gjinovci@gmail.com
SWITZERLAND / KOSOVO / FRANCE
Docufiction, 75 min.
ORIGINAL LANGUAGES: French, Albanian PRODUCTION:
Astrae Productions, Geneva / Unseen SH.P.K., Pristina / Haut et Court, Paris / RTS
SWISS PRODUCERS: Dea Gjinovci, Palmyre Badinier
DEA GJINOVCI
* 1993. Dea Gjinovci has a Master in Ethnographic and Documentary film from University College London. Her first short documentary SANS LE KOSOVO (2017) was awarded Best National Film Award at Dokufest Prizren and screened at several festivals. WAKE UP ON MARS (2018), her debut featurelength documentary, won the RTS-Perspective d’un doc award at Visions du Réel for a documentary project in development and received a Sundance Institute development grant.
LA BEAUTÉ DE L’ÂNE
SHEWIT
directed by Anne-Frédérique Widmann
When she arrived alone in Geneva, Eritrean refugee Shewit was fifteen years old. By the end of the film, she will be twenty-five. Shewit is a story of exile, perseverance, and emancipation. It tells the destiny of a woman who fled to escape all forms of oppression – a tarnished political system, a traditional society, and abusive men. A fugitive who places all her hope in the protection of a country of values: Switzerland. Shewit recounts ten years of struggle to escape her past and find freedom.
ANNE-FRÉDÉRIQUE WIDMANN
* 1965. Anne-Frédérique Widmann studied International Relations at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva and works as a journalist. For Swiss television RTS she has directed several political documentaries. FREE MEN (2018) was her first feature-length documentary and won numerous awards. In 2019, she was awarded the Prix Jean Dumur for her body of work.
SWITZERLAND
Documentary, 80 min.
ORIGINAL LANGUAGES: French, Bilen
PRODUCERS: Luc Peter, Katia Monla
FALL 2025
PRODUCTION AND WORLD RIGHTS:
Intermezzo Films, Geneva www.intermezzofilms.ch
LOOKING FOR:
World Sales
Int. Distribution
Int. Festival Premiere CONTACT: Luc Peter
Intermezzo Films luc@intermezzofilms.ch
EXPECTED
FALL 2025
SWEET BELONGING
written & directed by Benjamin Bucher DETCEPXE
Joyce, a twenty-two-year-old African-Chinese dancer, tries to find her way in Europe – torn between artistic and identity-related self-discovery and financial dependence on her mother’s TikTok business.
WORLD RIGHTS:
Langfilm - Bernard Lang AG, Freienstein www.langfilm.ch
LOOKING FOR:
World Sales
Int. Distribution
Int. Festival Premiere CONTACT: Olivier Zobrist
Langfilm oz@langfilm.ch
SWITZERLAND
Documentary, 80 min.
ORIGINAL LANGUAGES: English, French, Mandarin Chinese PRODUCTION:
Langfilm - Bernard Lang AG, Freienstein / SRF PRODUCERS: Olivier Zobrist, Anne-Catherine Lang Julia Schubiger
BENJAMIN BUCHER
Benjamin Bucher graduated with a Bachelor from the ECAL (École cantonale d’art de Lausanne) in 2018. Editor and composer, he also directed two shorts and a medium length film. His films were screened at international festivals including Visions du Réel, Doclisboa and IDFA. He is an alumni of IDFAcademy and IDFA Project Space. SWEET BELONGING, his debut feature-length documentary produced by Langfilm, is currently in post-production.
WINTER 2025/26
HEAT
written & directed by Jacqueline Zünd
The world is getting hotter, with new peak temperatures every summer. What does this heat do to people? How does it change us? A cinematic exploration of heat as a condition and an extreme experience. Focusing on the Persian Gulf as one of the hottest regions on the planet, the film paints a panorama of human stories, moods, and survival strategies. It’s a glimpse into a possible future for all of us.
JACQUELINE ZÜND
* 1971. Jacqueline Zünd is an acclaimed Swiss director. Her previous documentaries GOODNIGHT NOBODY (2010), ALMOST THERE (2016) and WHERE WE BELONG (2019) screened at Cannes, Berlinale, Locarno, IDFA, Visions du Réel among many other festivals and won numerous awards. Her fiction debut DON’T LET THE SUN (CATCH YOU CRYING) is currently in post-production.
SWITZERLAND
Documentary, 90 min. ORIGINAL LANGUAGE: English, Arabic PRODUCTION: Lomotion AG, Bern, real Film GmbH, Zurich / SRF / ARTE PRODUCER: Louis Mataré
WORLD RIGHTS: Lomotion AG, Bern www.lomotion.com
LOOKING FOR:
World Sales Int. Distribution Int. Festival Premiere CONTACT: Louis Mataré Lomotion louis@lomotion.ch
LES CHASSERESSES
SUMMER 2025
DETCEPXE
THE HUNTRESSES
directed by Christelle Jornod, Amélie Bargetzi
The documentary shows the hunting practices of four women living in the Valais. By following them on their hunting trips, as well as during the preparation and handling of the meat, the film shows the special relationship they have with nature, the landscape and the environment. It’s a close, intimate, sensual relationship that engages their bodies and senses in an intense and unique way.
PRODUCTION AND WORLD RIGHTS:
Box Productions, Lausanne www.boxproductions.ch
LOOKING FOR:
World Sales
Int. Distribution
Int. Festival Premiere
CONTACT: Nicolas Wittwer
SWITZERLAND
Documentary, 90 min.
ORIGINAL LANGUAGE: French
PRODUCERS: Elena Tatti, Nicolas Wittwer
Box Productions nicolas.wittwer@boxproductions.ch
CHRISTELLE JORNOD
*1993. She holds a Bachelor from HEAD-Genève and studied experimental film at KHM, Cologne. She is currently pursuing a Doctorate in artistic research at Bauhaus University, Weimar, focusing on gender in rural practices.
AMÉLIE BARGETZI
*1994. She graduated with a Bachelor from HEAD-Genève and a Master in Fine Arts from ZHdK. She explores ecological issues and memory through video. Her film WHERE WE ARE (2021) premiered at Visions du Réel in Nyon.
SUMMER 2025
TRISTAN FOREVER
(working title)
by Tobias Nölle, Loran Bonnardot
For twenty-five years a French doctor has been visiting Tristan da Cunha, the world’s most isolated, inhabited island. A fisherman became his friend, the island his refuge and its inhabitants his substitute family. Now, at the age of fifty, he boards the ship again; to never return. But it’s not that simple: The council will decide on his admission, the fisherman has his own point of view and the doctor is haunted by his lifelong search for isolation. A journey to an utopian place far behind the horizon.
TOBIAS NÖLLE
* 1976. Tobias Nölle studied film in New York. His short film RENÉ won the Golden Leopard in Locarno 2007, his feature debut ALOYS the FIPRESCI prize at the Berlinale 2016. He is cofounder of the Swiss filmmakers collective 8horses.
LORAN BONNARDOT
* 1973. Loran Bonnardot is a French doctor and filmmaker who works in Paris and around the world. The short film 37°4 S, which he coproduced, won the Jury’s Special Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013.
SWITZERLAND
Docufiction, 90 min.
ORIGINAL LANGUAGE: English
PRODUCER: Christof Neracher
PRODUCTION AND WORLD RIGHTS: hugofilm features GmbH, Zurich www.hugofilm.ch
LOOKING FOR:
World Sales
Int. Distribution
Int. Festival Premiere CONTACT: Christof Neracher hugofilm features cneracher@hugofilm.ch
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM COMPETITION
OBSCURE NIGHT – “AIN’T I A CHILD?” by Sylvain George
BURNING LIGHTS COMPETITION
THE OTHER WORLD by Callisto Mc Nulty
THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN by Leon Schwitter, Agostina Di Luciano
NATIONAL COMPETITION
COLOSTRUM by Sayaka Mizuno
DADS by David Maye
FITTING IN by Fabienne Steiner
KEVINE AND FORTUNE by Sarah Imsand
LETTERS TO DOCTOR L. by Laurence Favre
LITTLE BY LITTLE by Matias Carlier
ONLY GHOSTS IN THE WAVES by Tobias Scharnagl, Alexander Tank
SEDIMENTS by Laura Coppens
SONG OF BREATH by Simona Canonica
SONS OF ICARUS by Daniel Kemény
THE MULTIPLE LIVES OF ANDRES by Baptiste Janon, Rémi Pons
WIDER THAN THE SKY by Valerio Jalongo
INTERNATIONAL MEDIUM LENGTH & SHORT FILM COMPETITION
AUTOSTOP by Roman Hüben
NIEDERURNEN, GL by Anna Joos
ROAD 190 by Emilie Cornu, Charlotte Nastasi
THE ESSAY by Alberto Martín Menacho, Carmen Ayala Marín
OPENING SCENES
HUNTING by Lea Favre
I CAN’T LOSE by Idris Ben Henda, Sarah Zein
GRAND ANGLE
BLAME by Christian Frei
GEN_ by Gianluca Matarrese
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
BESTIARIES, HERBARIA, LAPIDARIES by Massimo D’Anolfi, Martina Parenti
NUIT. NUIT ENCORE, ENCORE NUIT · by Clara Alloing
DISTRIBUTION SUPPORT
Supporting the theatrical release and distribution via online platforms of Swiss films worldwide.
The subsidies are granted according to the “Guidelines Funding for the distribution of Swiss films and coproductions in foreign countries”.
A support measure by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture (FOC), administrated by SWISS FILMS.
www.bak.admin.ch
www.swissfilms.ch
FILM SALES SUPPORT
A scheme by the European Film Promotion (EFP) for the promotion of European films outside of Europe.
EFP offers Film Sales Support (FSS) for the promotion of films from Switzerland outside of Europe thanks to international measures by the Federal Office of Culture, MEDIA Desk Suisse and SWISS FILMS.
FSS is supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture (FOC), Media Desk Suisse and SWISS FILMS.
www.swissfilms.ch
VISIT US AT OUR STANDS AT:
Cannes Village International Annecy Mifa
Locarno Film Festival
Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Market
Berlinale European Film Market
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