The Swiss Film Prize 2005 – More and more important

(The entire dossier of information concerning nominations can be downloaded as a pdf. You will find it at the end of this text. Images for download you will find in the «awards / Swiss Film Prize»-section / main navigation).

Five films in each category, as well as three actors/actresses from the two further categories, are nominated by a committee which has been selected by the Federal Department of Home Affairs. This year, 167 films were up for nomination. The nominations for each fiction film and documentary film will be honoured with a sum of CHF 20,000, as well as a sum of CHF 10,000 to each of the nominated short films and the animated films and a sum of CHF 5,000 to the nominated actresses/actors.

More information about all the nominations: www.swissfilms.ch/documents/dossier_05_e.pdf

Several changes made in 2004 – the introduction of new categories and the award money for the nominations – resulted in an extension of the Swiss Film Prize. In 1996, institutions in the film industry, which are still active today, took the initiative and combined the smaller awards and prizes that existed at that time into a single national film prize: the Swiss Film Prize. It was awarded for the first time in 1998 in the categories of “Best Fiction Film”, “Best Documentary Film” and “Best Short Film”. In 2000, the categories for “Best Actor” and “Best Actress” were added and were later converted into the categories for “Best Performance in a Leading Role” and “Best Performance in a Supporting Role” in 2004. This year’s Swiss Film Prize will, however, be presented to seven categories, including the award for the category of “Best Animated Film“, which is awarded every two years.

The Swiss Film Prize is under the auspices of the Federal Department of Home Affairs – represented by the Federal Office of Culture – in collaboration with the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR idée Suisse), Swiss Films, the Solothurn Film Festival, the Nyon International Film Festival »Visions du Réel», and the Locarno International Film Festival. Swiss Films is responsable for the promotion of this national award.



2004 Awards:

“Jagged Harmonies – Bach vs. Frederick II” by Dominique de Rivaz (Best Fiction Film)

“Corn in Parliament” by Jean-Stéphane Bron (Best Documentary Film)

“L‘Escalier” by Frédéric Mermoud (Best Short Film)

Bettina Stucky (Best Performance in a Leading Role)

Gilles Tschudi (Best Performance in a Supporting Role)

Spezial Jury Prize: Corinna Glaus for her casting of the film “Ready, Steady, Charlie!”


Zurich, November 30, 2004