Pedro Lenz

In 1877 a Swiss aristocrat, Alfred von Rodt, became the governor of the remote Chilean island that gave birth to the legend of Robinson Crusoe. Exiled from his country and family, Von Rodt strived to build a utopian “little kingdom” until his death, but failed and lost his entire fortune. The film tells the story of this outcast through the lives of his descendants, who today seek political autonomy and a preservation of their indigenous identity.

Expeditions to the heart of the country with the author Pedro Lenz, who lives above the Flügelrad Restaurant next to the railway station in Olten. An oscillating snapshot of the prevailing mood in Swiss society emerges from the interplay between stories of everyday life and Lenz’s reflective texts in Swiss dialect, replete with laconic poesy and a tinge of yearning.