Le Hibou et la baleine, Nicolas Bouvier(1993)

Ikaria(de)

Delphine Seyrig, portrait d'une comète(fr)

Delphine Seyrig, an extraordinary woman and actress, died on October 15, 1990. From "Last Year at Marienbad" by Alain Resnais to "India Song" by Marguerite Duras, she played in 34 films for cinema, 13 films for television and 33 plays. Jacqueline Veuve, filmmaker and friend of Delphine Seyrig, wanted to break the silence that has fallen on her memory by making a documentary that traces with emotion and subjectivity the life of the mythical actress, the fierce feminist but also the simple friend.

The Beast Within(zh)

Echoes of Home(de)

What does a baby's cry have in common with the echo of a mountain yodler, and what connects the head tone of a Tuvin nomad with the stage show of a vocal artist? The answer is: THE VOICE. Against a background of powerful alpine vistas and modern city landscapes, "heimatklänge" enters the wondrous sonic world of three exceptional Swiss vocal artists. Their universe of sound extends far beyond what we would describe as singing. In their engagement with local and foreign traditions, the powerful mountain landscape becomes a stage as do the landscapes and sonic backdrops of modern life.

He Called Himself Surava(de)

Hans Werner hirsch aka Surava was a journalist. He wrote about the deportation of French jews, and the Swiss government chased him because the Swiss government was Nazi-friendly. The Swiss intelligence service (Bundespolizei) knew him as a "communist jew". In fact, he worked for a left newspaper, but he wasn't a jew. Surava took his courage to write about the "censored" inhumanity in Europe.

Step Across the Border(en)

An avant-garde documentary film on English guitarist, composer and improviser Fred Frith.

Dust(de)

A look at the pervasive power of dust from its tiny particles settling in unseen places to its ability to cause illnesses and create the cosmos.

Gambling, Gods and LSD(en)

Filmmaker Peter Mettler embarks on a mission that takes him around the world. He is determined to record the diverse modes of transcendence that people in different cultures adopt in order to live life to the fullest. As he traverses civilization and wilderness and encounters a range of lifestyles and ideas, the filmmaker's mind-expanding trip around the world grows into a poem of images and sounds, reflecting the fragmented but alluring worlds it attempts to capture.

La petite dame du Capitole(fr)

Lucienne Schnegg is an energetic little woman. At eighty, she is still at the helm of the "Capitole" cinema. Hired as a secretary in 1949, she became the heiress and soul of the cinema. Cashier, housekeeper and director all in one, she tells us all about her cinema, Lausanne's oldest, largest and most beautiful.

Winter Nomads(fr)

Pascal, 53, and Carole, 28, are shepherds. In the month of November 2010, they embark on their long winter transhumance: four months during which they will have to cover 600 km in the Swiss-French region, accompanied by three donkeys, four dogs and eight hundred sheep. An exceptional adventure is about to begin: they brave the cold and the bad weather day in day out, with a canvas cover and animal skins as their only shelter at night. This saga reveals a tough and exacting profession, requiring constant improvisation and unflinching attention to nature, the animals and the cosmos. An eventful journey with surprise encounters, moving reunions with farmer friends, nostalgic figures of country life that is shrinking away fast. Αn adventure film, a contemporary road movie, a reflection of our current world, which takes us back to our roots and our inner questions.

Chronique vigneronne(fr)

This documentary show the work, the worries and the joys of a family dedicated to viticulture, the Potterat, living in Lavaux. Three generations live together, keeping the old traditions

Meier 19(de)

The policemen's wages were stolen from the Zurich police headquarters. Police inspector Meier 19 discovered that the head of the crime squad which was leading the investigation of the case gave a fake alibi. But instead of investigating the false alibi inspector Meier 19 was imprisoned, his wife demanded the divorce and his friends abandoned him. But the revolutionary youth movement of 1968 supported Meier 19 who became a symbol of the battle against the established order and corruption while his life fell apart like in a classical tragedy.

Story of Night(de)

It’s a black-and-white record of European cities in the dark (2-5am), from Basle to Belfast. Quiet, and meditative, what emerges most strongly is an eerie sense of city landscapes as deserted film sets, in which the desolate architecture overwhelms any sense of reality. The only reassurance that we are not in some endless machine-Metropolis is the shadow of daytime activity: a juggernaut plunging through a darkened village, a plague of small birds in the predawn light. The whole thing is underscored by a beautiful ‘composed’ soundtrack, from quietly humming streetlights to reggae and the rumble of armoured cars in Belfast. A strange and remarkable combination of dream, documentary and science-fiction.

Bad Boy Kummer(de)

For four years, Tom Kummer fooled SZ Magazine and other reputable media outlets in Germany and Switzerland with his fake interviews. He owed his longevity to his professionalism: his work always demonstrated seriousness, thoroughness, and quality. He faked interviews with Sharon Stone, Nicolas Cage, Sean Penn, and Bruce Willis, in which he also talked to the stars about personal topics such as sex and drugs. Today, Kummer works as a tennis instructor in Los Angeles.

Grüningers Fall(de)

The Grüninger case from Switzerland. This is a documentary about a police officer who showed civil courage back in the forties when he led many refugees fleeing German Nazi terror immigrate to Switzerland, although he was advised not to do so. Grüninger later was sued by the state of Switzerland, lost his job and died in the early seventies. The film constructs a just lawsuit with eye-witnesses and thus fully legitimates what Grüninger did.

Traumzeit(en)

Planned as the filmic documentation of a journey to find the last nomadic shamans in East Siberia, the film instead captures the failed search for these people, who settled down ages ago.

Federica de Cesco(de)

z‘Alp(de)

In z’Alp, Thomas Rickenmann interweaves majestic landscapes of the Swiss alps, overland travel as animals and their minders move together uphill, and the intimate spaces of family life. He shifts seamlessly among these elements to impart an experience of annual treks from valley to mountain that have been playing out for centuries in Switzerland. Each year, farmers shift their livestock to fields at higher elevations, following the spring as it rolls up moun- tainsides and thus allowing the lower fields to regrow in time for the livestock’s autumn return.

Züri brännt(de)

Documentary about the youth riots in Zürich in 1980. Videoladen, Zürich 1980.

Imagine Waking Up Tomorrow and All Music Has Disappeared(en)

Imagine waking up tomorrow and all music has disappeared. Just like that. What will remain when it is all gone: CDs, iPods, instruments?