Strong presence of Swiss documentary films in Munich

03.05.2005

Switzerland is represented with five films in the international program of the 20th International Munich Documentary Film Festival Dok.Fest, which runs from 6 to 14 May 2005: “Brother Yusef” by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel, which was also awarded the Suissimage prize / “Société suisse des auteurs” (SSA) at the film festival in Nyon; “Building the Gherkin (Norman Foster)” by Mirjam von Arx; “Katzenball” by Veronika Minder; “Nipo Brasil” by Viola Scheuerer and Roberto Manhães Reis; and Vanessa Langer’s short documentary film “Regards sur le voile”.
Three films made by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel (Produktion Cine Nomad) will be screened at the Dok.Fest. Their film “Brother Yusef” (coproduction G/F/CH), which just made its premiere in Nyon, will be shown along with “Middle of the Moment” (1995) and “Step Across the Border” (1990) (coproductions G/CH). The latter two are among the films to be screened in this year’s anniversary series Best.Doks 20/20, which features the 20 best films from of the International Munich Documentary Film Festival since its inception 20 years ago.

Veronika Minder’s debut film “Katzenball” participated in the Panorama section at the International Film Festival in Berlin in 2005 and won the Teddy Award for the best documentary film with a homo- or transsexual theme. Since then it has been invited to several international festivals.

The festival in Munich, apart from the events in Leipzig and Duisburg, is one of the most important platforms for documentary films in German-speaking regions. The festival has followed the Swiss documentary scene with great interest for years. Films from Switzerland are regularly invited to compete, which was the case last year for “Lucky Jack – Three Attempts to Stop Smoking” by Peter Liechti.

Zurich, 3 May 2005

Further information about the films and the festival at:
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