3x3: extensive Swiss presence at China Independent Film Festival in Nanjing

With three current Swiss feature films, three documentary films and homage paid to three directors – Anka Schmidt, Hannes Schüpbach and Peter Volkart – Swiss filmmaking will be presented as innovative and extensive at the 7th China Independent Film Festival in Nanjing (October 21-25, 2010).

20.10.2010

With three current Swiss feature films, three documentary films and homage paid to three directors – Anka Schmidt, Hannes Schüpbach and Peter Volkart – Swiss filmmaking will be presented as innovative and extensive at the 7th China Independent Film Festival in Nanjing (October 21-25, 2010).

Apart from the homage to the three different directors, a selection of film productions will be screened in Nanjing, showcasing works that shaped the film landscape in Switzerland between 2006 and 2009. These include award-winning works such as: "Home" by Ursula Meier; "Complices" by Frédéric Mermoud; "The Sound Of Insects" by Peter Liechti; and "No More Smoke Signals" by Fanny Bräuning.

Guests at the festival's exchange conference are film directors Fabienne Abramovich ("Liens de sang") and Frédéric Choffat ("La vraie vie est ailleurs"), two of the three directors of the homage - Hannes Schüpbach and Peter Volkart - as well as Sabina Brocal, head of events and programmes at SWISS FILMS. The cultural exchange between Chinese and Swiss film directors via Swiss film productions will be moderated by Cao Kai, co-director of the festival and Li Zhenhua, curator and art mediator. In this context, SWISS FILMS, the film promotion agency, acts in its role as a cultural mediator.

In conjunction with the Swiss Chinese Explorations cultural programme together with the Swiss Arts Council, SWISS FILMS has fostered an exchange and long-term relationships via selected projects from autumn 2008 to spring 2010. SWISS FILMS is continuing several of these initiated programmes, for example, also in collaboration with the China Independent Film Festival which had already provided a small window for Swiss short and experimental film productions in 2009. The festival is considered one of the most important informal international platforms in China.

Zurich, October 20. 2010