Switzerland was one of the last countries in the world to grant women the right to vote. This film guides us through a century of Swiss history, tracing the imprint left by the women who fought for the right to leave hearth and home – and by the men who did everything they could to send them back – until they gained legal equality, whose implementation seems to be in question still today.
Ho und Überall
An intimate portrayal of the everyday lives of Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse, high in the French Alps (Chartreuse Mountains). The idea for the film was proposed to the monks in 1984, but the Carthusians said they wanted time to think about it. The Carthusians finally contacted Gröning 16 years later to say they were now willing to permit Gröning to shoot the movie, if he was still interested.
Dimitri - Clown
This documentary follows Swiss improvisation musicians and tells their stories.
Tracing the emigrations of his family over more than half a century, this riveting documentary epic from acclaimed expatriate Iraqi filmmaker Samir pays moving homage to the frustrated democratic dreams of a people successively plagued by the horrors of dictatorship, war and foreign occupation of Iraq.
Le crépuscule des Celtes
Le garçon s'appelait Apache
Le Hibou et la baleine, Nicolas Bouvier
The Jean Tinguely Museum in Basel, Switzerland, designed by Mario Botta, opened in 1996, five years after the Swiss sculptor's death. META MECANO is a poetic depiction of the genesis of this mono-graphic museum, from the builders' first plans and Mario Botta's designs to its construction and the assembly of Tinguely's fragile mobile sculptures. In interviews with Mario Botta, Tinguely's wife Niki de Saint Phalle, museum director Pontus Hultén and Tinguely himself, the film goes on to explore the mission of museums and of art in general today. META MECANO is a unique document on the significance of the artist Jean Tinguely and on the role that museums play in our day and age.
Two musicians whose biographies could not be more different. And yet, they are not only linked by a passion for music that they share with their spouses. All three have enjoyed successful careers in their home countries, and now need to find new bearings in Switzerland. Parallel to her concerts, pianist Tamriko Kordzaia, originally from Georgia, gives lessons at a music school, composer and singer Samir Essahbi, who is Moroccan, performs regularly with his band, and Turkish singer Ülkü Fazilet Bozkurt is starting to perform again.
Mutiara, légende d'une perle
While managers of Swiss banks in the USA ruefully apologize 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. Rudolf Elmer: from insider to critic.
Zurich-born Hugo Koblet was the first international cycling star of the post-war period. He was a stylist on the bicycle and in life, and a huge heartthrob. Koblet had a meteoric rise and won the Giro d'Italia in 1950. Once he had reached the zenith of his career, Koblet was put under pressure by overly ambitious officials and ended up ruining his health with drugs. In 1954, he married a well-known model and they became a celebrity dream couple. After his athletic career ended, Koblet began to lose his footing. Threatened by bankruptcy, he crashed his Alfa into a tree.
Documentary account of a man’s life in the face of imminent death – Francisco Varela's story told affectionately and gently, touchingly and astutely. Varela spent his life building bridges: between Western science and Eastern wisdom, neurobiology and philosophy, abstract theory and practical life. This film seeks to deconstructs the prevailing division between science and art.
Ultima sfornata
Un petit coin de paradis
Une jeunesse au goût de terre
How do you cope if things turn out differently than you'd imagined? Helena (19) and Jonas (11) are people in great need of support, putting their parents, families, schools and society to the test. The film breaks down the wall that separates them from our world, shows how language and community develop - and asks the question of who we are.
Urs Fischer