Winners of the Swiss Film Prize “Quartz 2010”

The evening’s victorious film was indeed “Coeur animal” (production: PS.Productions), garnering two awards. Séverine Cornamusaz accepted the “Quartz” for “Best Fiction Film” from Federal Councillor Didier Burkhalter; Christoph Marthaler presented the award for “Best Actor” to Antonio Buil for Best Actor. In the category of “Best Documentary Film”, the “Quartz” trophy, designed by Alfredo Häberli, was presented by Frédéric Maire (head of the Swiss Film Archive) to Vadim Jendreyko for the film “The Woman With The 5 Elephants” (production: Mira Film). The film “Las Pelotas” by Chris Niemeyer (production: Plan B Film) won the prize for “Best Short Film”, which was presented by Clown Dimitri. The prize for “Best Screenplay” was presented by director Ursula Meier and went to Frédéric Mermoud for his Swiss French coproduction “Complices”. The “Quartz” in the category of “Best Film Score”, awarded for the first time in 2009, was presented by the musician Sophie Hunger to Norbert Möslang for the music in the film “The Sound of Insects – Record of a Mummy”. Marie Leuenberger won “Best Actress” for her role in “Die Standesbeamtin” she received her award from actress Bettina Stucky. “Best Emerging Actor or Actress” went to Uygar Tamer for her part in “Dirty Money, l’infiltré” and was presented by actor Bruno Todeschini.


This year was the first time the members of the Swiss Film Academy voted on both the nominations and prizes in the eight categories. The jury, comprised of academy members appointed by the Federal Office of Culture (SFOC), selected the prize winners based on the nominations submitted by the Academy. In addition, the jury awarded the Special Jury Prize to Stéphane Kuthy for his camera work in “Tannöd”. This prize was presented by artist HR Giger.


The Honorary Award was presented to Genovese film director Claude Goretta by actor Jean-Luc Bideau. Goretta’s films for the cinema and television have played a crucial role in shaping Swiss filmmaking and are internationally recognised still today. He produced many of his films together with France, where his popularity is exceptionally high. His international successes include “L’invitation” (1973) and “La dentellière” (1977), which were honoured with awards in Cannes, as well as the adaption of Ramuz’s “Si le soleil ne revenait pas” (1987).


Television moderator Susanne Kunz hosted the bilingual award ceremony, with some 1,000 guests from culture, politics and business in attendance. The festive evening was further highlighted with performances by the Vienna Art Orchestra, conducted by Matthias Rüegg.


The award ceremony was broadcast in its entirety for the first time by SF zwei. The television channels TSR 1 and RSI La1 also devoted the entire Saturday evening to Swiss filmmaking with special programmes highlighting Swiss films. The SRG SSR idée suisse radio stations also featured detailed reports on the Swiss Film Prize “Quartz 2010”.


The award ceremony of the Swiss Film Prize “Quartz” is under the auspices of SRG SSR idée suisse, in collaboration with the Federal Office of Culture and SWISS FILMS. Further partners are the Swiss Film Academy, the Solothurn Film Festival, the City of Lucerne and KKL Luzern.


Zurich, March 6, 2010


Laudation and information on the winners of the “Quartz 2010”