SwissAm – A Window of Swiss Films in New York City

The opening day on November 5th offers various discussion forums for the New York film scene, for representatives of US and Swiss institutions, film festivals, and production companies. With an introduction by Raymond Loretan, Swiss Ambassador in New York, and Richard Peña, Director of the “Film Society of Lincoln Center,” the first panel discusses Switzerland as a shooting location with Cyril Jost from “Film Location Switzerland” as one of the panelists. “Film Distribution in the US and Switzerland,” will be the topic of another panel with Irene Bignardi, Director of the Locarno International Film Festival and Christa Saredi, expert on world distribution, participating. Ulrike Koch and Peter Liechti are two of the panelists for a discussion on “Swiss Documentary Films in Movie Theatres – a Success Story,” moderated by film scholar Marcy Goldberg.

In addition to US films, thirty contemporary Swiss fiction, documentary, and short films, will be introduced to a New York audience. Numerous Swiss filmmakers will be present for the event, among them Reto Caduff (“Krokus - As Long As We Live”), Séverine Cornamusaz (“La moto de ma mère”), Markus Fischer (“One Bullet Left“), Steven Hayes (“Meyers”), Lukas Hobi (Producer, “Ready, Steady, Charlie!”), Ursula Koch (“Asshak –Tales from the Sahara“), Peter Liechti (Retrospective), Roberto Margolis and Frank Matter (“The Definition of Insanity“), Vincent Pluss (“On dirait le Sud”), Véronique Reyomond and Stéphanie Chuat (“Berlin Backstage”), and Christof Vorster (“Hilde’s Journey”). Peter Liechti’s films will be shown in New York for the first time.

In an experimental film program, curated by the artistic director of the Swiss Institute, Marc-Olivier Wahler and screened at the “Anthology Film Archives” on November 10, contemporary works by Olaf Breuning, Fischli and Weiss, Sylvie Fleury, and Pipilotti Rist, among others, will be presented.

The Swiss-American Film Festival, organized and directed by Swiss director and producer Nicolas Rossier, who lives in New York, is organized in close cooperation and with the support of SWISS FILMS. While its first edition took place in the context of “Swisspeaks” in April 2003, it has since been expanded.

Zurich, October 26, 2004

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