Swiss Film Award 2020: Honorary Award for Markus Imhoof

Markus Imhoof has written Swiss film history with his works. The Nomination Committee describes his “continual search for humaneness while coupling the political with the personal” as his extraordinary merit. The Federal Office of Culture (SFOC) will thereby present him with the Honorary Award, endowed with CHF 30 000, as part of the Swiss Film Award 2020.

Markus Imhoof, born in Winterthur in 1941, studied German Philology, Art History and History at the University of Zurich. In 1966 he worked as an assistant to Leopold Lindtberg, subsequently attended the film technician course at the School of Applied Art in Zurich and, as a result, decided to definitively pursue his career as a film director and screenwriter. Furthermore, he has been a co-founder of production companies, guest lecturer at various universities and a member of the Federal Film Commission.

Imhoof’s films engender empathy and urge us to rethink

For the past six decades Markus Imhoof has had a substantial impact on Swiss cinema. His films divulge and disclose, engender empathy and urge us to reflect and rethink. His prison film RONDO (1968) was banned by the Department of Justice in the canton of Zurich and remained under lock and key until 1976. His feature film DAS BOOT IST VOLL (1981), which was nominated for an Oscar, empathetically portrays the fate of refugees living in exile in Switzerland during the Second World War. MORE THAN HONEY (2012) touched international audiences, was honoured with an award as Best Documentary Film in Switzerland, Austria and Germany, among others, and is still the most successful Swiss documentary film internationally. In 2018 Markus Imhoof addressed the consequences of a restrictive policy on asylum once again in ELDORADO: “One of the most moving statements to have been made thus far on the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean,” wrote Screen Daily in its review. The film celebrated its world premiere at the Berlinale 2018 and was submitted as the Swiss entry for an Oscar in the category of Foreign Language Film. The worldwide recognition together with the numerous awards and honours bear witness to the urgency of his films.

Presentation of the Honorary Award postponed

The presentation of the Swiss Film Award 2020, originally scheduled in March, will not take place this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Honouring Markus Imhoof and the presentation of the award will occur on the Night of the Nominations for the Swiss Film Award 2021 in Solothurn.

BAK/SWISS FILMS

Further information about Markus Imhoof: 

Website Markus Imhoof
www.schweizerkulturpreise.ch/ehrenpreis-2020