Two young Swiss directors in Rotterdam
Two directors from Geneva – Milagros Mumenthaler and Eileen Hofer – will present their debut films at the 41st International Film Festival in Rotterdam (January 25 - February 5, 2012).
24.01.2012
Apart from the films by Milagros Mumenthaler and Eileen Hofer, the festival will also screen the Swiss coproduction's: "L'hiver dernier" by Belgian director John Shank (coproduction: PCT, Martigny); and "Los pasos dobles" by Catalan director Isaki Lacuesta (coproduction: Bord Cadre Films, Geneva), which won an award in San Sebastian. Rounding off the strong Swiss presence in Rotterdam are the 22-minute experimental film "Villatalla" by Jeannette Muñoz and the 7-minute short film "Romance" by Georges Schwizgebel, the master of animation film. His film has already been celebrated at 20 Festivals.
Eileen Hofer's film "He Was A Giant With Brown Eyes," which was shot in Baku, portrays an Azerbaijan family caught between the Western world and Muslim and Russian traditions. After their parents divorced, one daughter moved to Switzerland with her mother and the other remained with her father in Azerbaijan. Similar to Milagros Mumenthaler in her fiction film "Abrir puertas y ventanas," Eileen Hofer concentrates on the relationship between the two sisters in her documentary film. The two sisters in Hofer's film assert themselves with different demands on their role as a woman in the male-dominated society.
Zurich, January 24, 2012