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The Shelter(fr)

It is winter at an emergency shelter for the homeless in Lausanne. Every night at the door of this little-known basement facility the same entry ritual takes place, resulting in confrontations which can sometimes turn violent. Those on duty at the shelter have the difficult task of “triaging the poor”: the women and children first, then the men. Although the total capacity at the shelter is 100, only 50 “chosen ones” will be admitted inside and granted a warm meal and a bed. The others know it will be a long night.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, tout dire(fr)

Four In Time(fr)

The film is the story of a musical encounter between drummers Pierre Favre, Fritz Hauser, Daniel Humair and Fredy Studer. The filmmaker brought them together in Zurich on January 6, 1997, and followed them over four days of rehearsals. The confrontation between these very different artists culminates in a concert.

Hugo Koblet - The Charming Cyclist(de)

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.

Monte Grande: What is Life?(de)

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.

From Somewhere To Nowhere(en)

Amidst the chaos of modern China, where megacities spring up at a dizzying pace, Swiss photographer Andreas Seibert has chosen to document the lives of the "mingong," the migrant workers who fuel the country's economic engine. Director Villi Hermann followed him in this endeavor for several years, immersing us in the photographer's eye and capturing the essence of his work on these forgotten souls. Seibert, with his lens, and Hermann, with his camera, weave together a poignant narrative that sheds light on the often-hidden reality of China's economic growth. "From Somewhere to Nowhere" is an ode to humanity in an ever-changing world, a reflection on the individual's place in the grand scheme of things, and a celebration of the power of photography as a means to capture the spirit of an era.

Meta-Mecano(fr)

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.

Into Great Silence(de)

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.

Made in India(en)

Magic Radio(fr)

Radios echo across Niger, connecting lives through news, music, and debate. This gripping doc explores how this everyday device becomes a lifeline in a changing nation.

Mutiara, légende d'une perle(en)

Zelihas Hütte(ku)

Wer sind wir?(de)

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.

Miriam Goldschmidt – Creator of the In-between(fr)

Nearing the end of a long and successful stage career, Miriam Goldschmidt finds her prowess as an actress increasingly on the wane. She struggles to memorize her lines and as her last project with lifelong collaborator, the legendary director Peter Brook, threatens to fall apart, Miriam looks back. Referencing Brook’s ground-breaking book «The Empty Space», she uses an empty rehearsal room in Berlin to invoke her archetypal life journey that took an orphaned black child from post-war Germany to the world’s biggest stages. We «Call Her Miriam» is a bewitching and moving portrait of a great artist living between dream and reality, truth and fction and life and death.

Cher Monsieur, cher papa(fr)

Classe d'accueil(fr)

Das Gehörlosendorf(de)

For a month, filmmaker Dieter Gränicher lives in an institution, in the village community of the deaf. As an attentive and increasingly familiar observer, he gets closer and closer to the village's inhabitants, who often suffer from a variety of handicaps, as they go about their daily lives. The film tells the story of the nuances and vivacity of sign language. It portrays human beings who, with great expressive power, overcome the limitations imposed on them by their disability, deeply touching the person opposite.

Journal de Rivesaltes 1941-42(fr)

From August to October 1942, over 2250 Jews were deported from the internment camp of Rivesaltes to Auschwitz by way of Drancy. Among them were 110 children. Friedel Bohny-Reiter, a nurse with the Swiss Aid to Children, worked in this camp in the South of France. Like many others in the formerly unoccupied zone, it was run by the French. Once a military camp, it had been converted in 1941 into a transit camp regrouping Jewish, Gypsy and Spanish people living in the area or who had fled to the free zone as refugees. Thanks to the young nurse from Basel, many children were probably saved from certain death. The film follows the nurse on a visit to that still intact site as well as through the pages of the journal she wrote in those dark days, published by Editions Zoë, Geneva in 1993.

Pausenlos(de)

The film portrays people with different time consciousness. A computer scientist works non-stop. Only when she gets home can she relax. A young employee suffers from sleep disorders and stress at work, and sinks into a state of decompensation. Ski trainer Didier Plaschy looks at the effects of slowing down and speeding up. Time historian Karlheinz Geissler takes a piquantly humorous look at our fast-paced society.

La nébuleuse du cœur(fr)