A Swiss short film in Toronto and a world premiere in San Sebastian

The Toronto International Film Festival TIFF (September 10-19, 2020) and the San Sebastián International Film Festival SSIFF (September 18-26, 2020) will take place this year under special circumstances with a reduced programme.

10.09.2020

The Toronto International Film Festival TIFF (September 10-19, 2020) and the San Sebastián International Film Festival SSIFF (September 18-26, 2020) will take place this year under special circumstances with a reduced programme. The Swiss short film THE GAME was selected for screening in Toronto, and the fiction film SPAGAT will celebrate its world premiere in the renowned New Directors section in San Sebastián.

Roman Hodel’s short documentary film THE GAME will be screened in Toronto as part of the Short Cuts programme and is thus in the running for the IMDbPro Short Cuts Awards. The production by Ensemble Film (Franziska Sonder) portrays the professional referee Fedayi San during a football match. The film has just celebrated its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival.

Jorge Cadena at the TIFF Filmmaker Lab

The Columbian-Swiss director Jorge Cadena is one of the 10 international filmmakers participating in the high-profile TIFF Filmmaker Lab. The four-day talent programme, which will be held virtually this year, enables participants to exchange ideas and make new contacts with internationally acclaimed filmmakers and guests.

Jorge Cadena studied at the HEAD – Genève and has been honoured with numerous festival awards for his short films. His graduation film THE JARARIJU SISTERS received an Honourable Mention at the 2009 Berlinale and the Molodist Film Festival in Kiev. Cadena is currently working on his first feature-length film MALESTAR TROPICAL, a Swiss-Columbian coproduction with GoldenEggProduction.

SWISS FILMS at TIFF

The 45th edition of TIFF takes place in a hybrid form, with cinema screenings, online screenings and interactive virtual events. European Film Promotion EFP will represent European promotion agencies including SWISS FILMS with EUROPE! UMBRELLA, the virtual market presence providing North American distributors a platform for European cinema.

World premiere of SPAGAT in San Sebastian

The fiction film SPAGAT will celebrate its premiere at the San Sebastian International Film Festival in the New Directors section, the competition devoted to first and second feature films. Christian Johannes Koch studied Film Directing at the KONRAD WOLF Film University of Babelsberg. SPAGAT, produced by CognitoFilms (Rajko Jazbec, Dario Schoch), is his first feature-length film. It tells the story of a teacher whose family life begins to unravel because of her affair with the undocumented father of one of her students. The leading role features Swiss actress Rachel Braunschweig, well-known for her perfomance in the films THE DIVINE ORDER and ZWINGLI, among others.

The French-Swiss coproduction THE SALT OF TEARS by Philippe Garrel will be screened in the Zabaltegi Tabakalera section. The film celebrated its premiere in competition at the Berlinale this year and was coproduced by Close Up Films (Joëlle Bertossa, Flavia Zanon).

New SWISS FILMS Fiction Booklet

Discover more new fiction films from Switzerland, as well as a selection of new short films and a preview of films in production, in the new SWISS FILMS FICTION FALL 2020 booklet. >>

SWISS FILMS, September 10, 2020