“Space Tourists” in competition in Amsterdam
17.11.2009
Christian Frei’s film “Space Tourists” will participate in the prestigious Joris Ivens Competition at the 22nd International Documentary Festival in Amsterdam (IDFA), which runs from November 19-29, 2009. Anja Kofmel’s short animation film “Chrigi” (production: Lucerne School of Art and Design) will participate in the Student Documentary Competition. In addition, two films will be screened in the Reflecting Images section – “The Mars Dreamers” by Richard Dindo and “Dachkantine” by Nicole Biermaier, Ravi Vaid and Dion Merz This means that a total of four films will represent Switzerland at the largest documentary film festival in the world.
This prominent presence in Amsterdam clearly shows the qualitative strength and international awareness of Swiss documentary filmmaking. Following Felix Tissi with “Desert – Who Is The Man?” (2007) and Olivier Zuchuat with “Au loin des villages” (2008), Switzerland is marking its presence for the third year in a row with Christian Frei’s “Space Tourists” in the Joris Ivens Competition, for which only 17 feature-length documentary films are selected to participate. Moreover, Richard Dindo’s film “The Mars Dreamers”, which celebrated its world premiere at the Locarno International Film Festival, will participate in Amsterdam in the highly selective Masters section of Reflecting Images. With Anja Kofmel’s “Chrigi”, a seven-minute, antiwar animation film, the IDFA acknowledges the outstanding quality of graduate films produced at the University of Lucerne.
The film “Dachkantine” will celebrate its international premiere under the English title of “Technozoyds: An Electromentary” in the Panorama section of Reflecting Images. It has just been released in cinemas in the German-speaking region of Switzerland. The three makers of this film – Nicole Biermaier, Ravi Vaid and Dion Merz – documented the massive closing-down festival of the underground electro club in Zurich three years ago, simultaneously marking the end of Zurich’s party culture.
Parallel to the IDFA is the 14th Docs for Sale, the documentary film market with some 500 films. Ten further 10 Swiss film productions will be presented at the market, along with the films screened at the festival.
Zurich, November 17, 2009
The film “Dachkantine” will celebrate its international premiere under the English title of “Technozoyds: An Electromentary” in the Panorama section of Reflecting Images. It has just been released in cinemas in the German-speaking region of Switzerland. The three makers of this film – Nicole Biermaier, Ravi Vaid and Dion Merz – documented the massive closing-down festival of the underground electro club in Zurich three years ago, simultaneously marking the end of Zurich’s party culture.
Parallel to the IDFA is the 14th Docs for Sale, the documentary film market with some 500 films. Ten further 10 Swiss film productions will be presented at the market, along with the films screened at the festival.
Zurich, November 17, 2009