Swiss films in San Francisco and at Sundance

12.01.2007

At the 12th Berlin & Beyond Film Festival, taking place at the Goethe Institute in San Francisco from January 11 -17, 2007, new German-speaking films will be introduced, among them four Swiss productions: the feature films “Mein Name ist Eugen” by Michael Steiner and “Aftershock” by Stina Werenfels, the documentary film “The Short Life of Jose Antonio Gutierrez” by Heidi Specogna, as well as the short film “Pool Side” by Michael Koch. At the 23rd Sundance Film Festival in Park City (January 18 – 28, 2007), “Fraulein” by Andrea Staka will be shown in the Spectrum series.
Founded in 1981 by American star director Robert Redford, the Sundance Film Festival counts among the most important film events in the United States. Its focus is on independently produced cinema including non-US filmmaking. In 2006, Switzerland was represented at the event with four documentary films (“The Giant Buddhas” by Christian Frei, “Angry Monk” by Luc Schaedler, “The Short Life of Jose Antonio Gutierrez by Heidi Specogna – which premiered at Sundance – and the co-production “Die grosse Stille” by Philipp Gröning). This year, the internationally well-recognized Swiss film “Fraulein” will make its appearance.



Together with “Vitus”, which is currently in the program at Palm Springs International Film Festival with director Fredi M. Murer in attendance (see Press Release from Dec 28, 2006), four films that were also nominated for the 2007 Swiss Film Prize are featured on the US west coast at this time, along with the 2006 rascal comedy “Mein Name ist Eugen”, which won the 2006 award for “Best Feature Film”.



Zurich, January 12, 2007