Person: C'est Gratuit

Crossing Borders(es)

In 1960, Martín and Marcos are forced by their difficult personal circumstances to travel to Switzerland in search of work, leaving their families in the Madrid of Franco's Spain. But they undertake more than a simple journey; they begin the road to a new life.

Zones(de)

Without knowing it, Alfred and Julia live in a land of pure invention. It is the richest and most beautiful land in the world. From a height, this land looks like a piece of felt, from close up like a clean and tiny park. The footpaths are lined with benches and the streets with banks. Alfred and Julia have been married for 8 years, are childless, and live on the 16th floor of a new building. Thanks to their various crises, they have got to know each other somewhat better, but their most outstanding characteristic remains their mediocrity. On Friday, August 12th 1977, a mysterious epidemic breaks out in their country. The mass media ensure that the news is widely broadcast. The authorities order a ban on information, but those concerned break their imposed silence. On Sunday evening, it becomes known that the epidemic was nomore than a kind of "dress rehearsal" for a real emergency. Alfred and Julia continue to live in a land of pure invention - but now they are conscious of the fact.

Lili Marleen(de)

The story of a German singer named Willie, who while working in Switzerland, falls in love with a Jewish composer named Robert, whose family is helping people to flee from the Nazis. Robert’s family is skeptical of Willie, thinking she could be a Nazi as she becomes famous for singing the song “Lili Marleen”.

One-way to Moscow(de)

30 years ago, Switzerland was shaken by a scandal that seems to have already been forgotten: more than 900,000 people were surveilled because of their political convictions. Against the backdrop of this "secret files scandal," Micha Lewinsky sets his film. Conscientious policeman Viktor Schuler is tasked by his superior to infiltrate the Schauspielhaus, a renowned Zurich theatre, in order to keep an eye on its leftist scene. However, Viktor finds himself quite taken with the artist's life and falls in love with the subversive actress Odile Lehmann.

The Traitor(de)

Hoping to become a great singer in Germany, a young dreamer named Ernst Schrämli finds himself drawn into underhand dealings. Determined to escape a suffocating environment that annihilates any kind of creative or artistic impetus, Ernst sells information about the Swiss army to a Nazi spy by the name of August Schmid, who charms and manipulates him. When Ernst’s crime is uncovered, he is sentenced to death for espionage and treason, becoming the first Swiss citizen to be executed.

Der grosse Kanton(de)

Is the solution to Switzerland's future to integrate Germany into the confederation? After all, like Michael Ringier, CEO of the Ringier media group, says, blithely ignoring all minorities, we're very close in culture and language. Oskar Freysinger takes out his guitar and sings his answer. Politicians from French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino think expanding will help the country survive. The former German foreign minister thinks the two countries' traditions are too different. The banker Oswald Grübel is worried about Germany's debts, although he'd be prepared to take over its assets. With serious interviews interspersed with gags (boat people on Lake Constance, the last Habsburger as a peasant), Giaccobbo gathers off-the-cuff reactions which reveal a lot about the different mentalities. The movie laughs at preconceived notions, redefines neutrality and reflects on what designates a nation. Switzerland, which loves to teach the world a lesson, will soon helvetize the planet, oder?

The White Masai(de)

A girl, Carola, whose vacation in Kenya takes an interesting turn when she becomes infatuated with a Masai. Carola decides to leave her boyfriend to stay with her lover. There, she has to adapt to the Masai's way of life and get used to their food which includes milk mixed with blood. She also has to face her husband's attitude towards women and what he expects from a wife. Nonetheless, Carola is welcomed warmly into the tribe she has chosen to join.

Faces of Death(en)

A moderator on an internet video-sharing platform stumbles across a potential snuff film ring hidden in the depths of the site's content. Are these gruesome videos merely a morbid work of shock-value fiction, or something all too horribly real?

Bis zum Ellenbogen(de)

Achim, a risk-taking young shipowner, and Willi, an inventive bon vivant, collide in the Swiss Alps. The accident alone reveals the rifts that lie between their worlds. Only Sven, the peace-loving bank employee from Sylt, who takes them both in at his vacation cabin, manages to broker a truce with cheese and wine. However, by an unfortunate coincidence, Sven dies at a happy moment. Now Achim and Willi have a problem: what to do with the body? Before his death, Sven told them all sorts of things: about his boss at the bank and fresh bread rolls, a lot of black money and the key to it. While Germany is in the grip of World Cup fever, Achim and Willi travel with Sven's body from the Swiss Alps to the North Sea. On Sylt, the dead man is supposed to wave to his boss one last time before being buried at his elbow as requested. But there's a catch: black money doesn't stink, but Sven does!

Brucio nel vento(it)

For ten years, immigrant Tobias has worked at a Swiss clock factory and, in the relentless ticking, he saw life go by without much expectation. One day, he sees Caroline, a former schoolmate from back in Eastern Europe, and falls in love with her, but she's married and has a daughter.

Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine(en)

An intimate portrait of Matthew Shepard, the gay young man murdered in one of the most notorious hate crimes in U.S. history. Framed through a personal lens, it's the story of loss, love, and courage in the face of unspeakable tragedy.

Phenomena(en)

A young girl, with an amazing ability to communicate with insects, is transferred to an exclusive Swiss boarding school, where her unusual capability might help solve a string of murders.

The Alps - Climb of Your Life(en)

In 1966, John Harlin II died while attempting Europe's most difficult climb, the North Face of the Eiger in Switzerland. 40 years later, his son John Harlin III, an expert mountaineer and the editor of the American Alpine Journal, returns to attempt the same climb.

Au fil de l'eau - Genève et sa nature(fr)

Au coeur des Grangettes(fr)

Die kleine Niederdorfoper(de)

Farmer Heiri has sold his calf and celebrates his temporary wealth in the big city. But in doing so he is confronted with many temptations and dangers: pickpockets, second-rate artists and prostitutes who all try to grab the money of this naive man from Hausen. A 1978 recording of the well-known Zurich boulevard theatre piece.

Hexenkinder(de)

The movie recalls children who suffered mental and physical harm both during the last century, particularly in religious orphanages, and during the time of early modernperiod witch-hunts. It shows that the mindsets and behavioural patterns of both time periods are more alike than one might think.

The Revenants(de)

The filmmaker travels to the mysterious land of the “poor souls.” He visits eyewitnesses in rural areas of Central Switzerland. They offer their account of mystifying experiences in connection with the afterlife, of evil deeds by people who passed away long ago in need of atonement. The film investigates the hidden signs of mountain magic and reminds us of our own myths, ghosts and primal images. It also looks for paths to self-awareness that could be revealed to us within and under layers of centuries-old Catholic cultural sediment.

The Blocher Experience(fr)

The Blocher Experience tells the story of Switzerland’s most controversial political leader. It also chronicles the face-to-face encounter between a film-maker and a man of power, through a year of exclusive, up-close interviews and access to his private life.

Paul Nizon: Der Nagel im Kopf(de)

The film tells of the radical life-search by the Swiss writer Paul Nizon, born 1929 in Bern, Switzerland, who became what “he was meant to be” in Paris. Now 90-year-old, Paul Nizon grants insights into his life and work in a self-ironic, direct manner. The intimate portrait of a great literary outsider emerges, for whom the risk of life and the risk of writing merge into one and the same work of art.