Success of Swiss Documentary Films in Movie Theatres in 2002
13.11.2002
Swiss documentary films are receiving great interest at home in addition to being recognized internationally (see press release of Nov 7, 2002). Over a period of only two weeks, 27,000 tickets were sold for “Mani Matter – warum syt dir so truurig“ (Mani Matter – why are you so sad), a portrait of the well-known Swiss songwriter directed by Friedrich Kappeler and distributed by Columbus Film. It recalls some of the successes of the 1990s such as Franz Reichle’s “The Knowledge of Healing“ with sales exceeding 100,000 tickets, and “The Saltmen of Tibet” by Ulrike Koch with approximately 50,000 tickets sold.
In addition, these are the current documentary films that are enjoying success at movie theatres this year: Erich Langjahr’s “Shepherds' Journey into the Third Millennium” reached almost 11,000 ticket sales over a period of four weeks, George Gachot’s “Martha Argerich – Conversations Nocturnes” achieved over 10,000 in ticket sales over eight weeks, “War Photographer” by Christian Frei (distributed by Look Now) sold over 15,000 tickets, and “B comme Béjart” by Marcel Schüpbach sold 14,500 tickets. In comparison, these five documentary films achieved more than 10,000 ticket sales this year, while only two films did equally well in 2001 (“Meier 19” by Erich Schmid in 2001 with 10,178 tickets, and “Do it” by Sabine Gisiger and Marcel Zwingly in 2000-2001 with 13,710 tickets).
br>Notably, 26 Swiss-directed documentary films premiered in movie theatres in 2002 (“Epoca” by Andreas Hoessli and Isabella Huser, “Forget Baghdad” by Samir, and “Seelenschatten” by Dieter Graenicher will be the final releases of 2002 with a their premier date of November 14). Comparably, only 12 films achieved theatrical releases in 2001.
Zurich, November 13, 2002
br>Notably, 26 Swiss-directed documentary films premiered in movie theatres in 2002 (“Epoca” by Andreas Hoessli and Isabella Huser, “Forget Baghdad” by Samir, and “Seelenschatten” by Dieter Graenicher will be the final releases of 2002 with a their premier date of November 14). Comparably, only 12 films achieved theatrical releases in 2001.
Zurich, November 13, 2002