“Swiss Fondue of Shorts” in Saint Petersburg

The 9^th Open Cinema International Short and Animation Film Festival (August 2-8, 2013) will screen ten new Swiss short film productions encompassing all genres in the International Competition, 18 animation and six fictions films from the past five years, as well as a retrospective comprised of films by Max Philipp Schmid.

Max Philipp Schmid – jury member retrospective
Swiss short film director Max Philipp Schmid was honoured with the Open Cinema Award for Best Experimental Short Film for his film “Das Gespenst des Glücks” in Saint Petersburg last year. This year he is a jury member of the Main Competition, and will present seven of his films.

Animated Fondue – Fictional Fondue
One of the festival’s programmes is devoted to Swiss animation filmmaking, comprised of 18 films produced from 2008 to 2012. The programme will open with “La fondue crée la bonne humeur” by Samuel and Frédéric Guillaume. Among the six fiction films presented are Nicolas Steiner’s classic “Ich bin’s Helmut” and productions by promising newcomer directors: “Mila” by Kristina Wagenbauer; “Teneriffa” by Hannes Baumgartner; “La délogeuse” by Julien Rouyet; “The Crononaut” by Désirée Haupts; and “Girl And Boy On The Rocks!” by Maria Sigrist, who will attend the festival, thanks to the support from SWISS FILMS. Marcel Müller will represent SWISS FILMS and is also a member of the jury for theme-oriented programmes.

Oliver Schwarz presents “Traumfrau”
The festival audience in Saint Petersburg will have the opportunity to discover ten further Swiss film productions screened in competitions, including the fiction film “L’amour bègue” by Jan Czarlewski; the documentary film “Traumfrau” by Oliver Schwarz, who will present his film personally at the festival; the animation films “Bon voyage” by Fabio Friedli and “Chambre 69” by Claude Barras; as well as the experimental film “Vororte der Körper” by Yves Netzhammer.

Focus on Russia until 2015
SWISS FILMS, the promotion agency, has initiated the Swiss presence at the Open Cinema Festival in collaboration with Pro Helvetia and it’s “Swiss Made in Russia” cultural exchange programme. In September Switzerland will be present at the Message to Man Festival in Saint Petersburg and at the International Film Festival SPIFF. Russia is the focus country for film programmes intermediated by SWISS FILMS until 2015.

Zurich, July 30, 2013