Baier and Bron on Piazza Grande, Imbach and Yersin in competition

With three films in the International Competition, Swiss filmmaking has a strong presence at the 66^th Festival del Film Locarno, albeit a little less so in the “Cineasti del Presente” Competition. For the International Competition, the festival has selected Thomas Imbach’s new fiction film “Mary, Queen Of Scots” and Yves Yersin’s documentary film “Tableau noir” about the school in Vieux-Prés, together with the Swiss-Italian coproduction “Sangue,” the autobiographically inspired film by the Italian author and director Pippo Delbono. “L’harmonie” by Swiss-French director Blaise Harrison will be the only Swiss film production screened in the “Cineasti del Presente” Competition. On the other hand, no less than four Swiss films will be screened out of competition in this section, including the most recent films by Lorenz Merz “Cherry Pie” and Benny Jaberg “The Green Serpent.” With great anticipation, the new films by director Lionel Baier “Les grandes ondes (à l’ouest),” as well as Jean-Stéphane Bron’s documentary film “L’expérience Blocher” about the SVP politician Christoph Blocher will be screened on the Piazza Grande.

Swiss documentary films in further sections
Celebrating their world premieres in the “Semaine de la Critique” is Luc Schaedler’s documentary film “Watermarks,” in which he portrays people who are subjected to the upheavals in present-day China as a result of the rapid economical and social development. In addition, the two restored documentary films by Alexander J. Seiler – “Ludwig Hohl” and “Palaver, Palaver” – will be presented in the “Histoire(s) du Cinéma” series.

Highlights of the past year in “Appellations Suisse”
The “Appellations Suisse” series, which SWISS FILMS has organised for ten years, presents films which have drawn attention at international festivals or left their mark in the cinema during the past year. Among the highlights of this year’s selection are: the documentary film “Karma Shadub” by Ramòn Giger and Jan Gassmann, which was honoured with the Grand Prix in Nyon; the animated documentary film “La nuit de l’ours” by Frédéric and Samuel Guillaume; Sophie Huber’s internationally acclaimed documentary film “Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction”; and the highly documentary-fiction “Verliebte Feinde” by Werner Schweizer about the famous-infamous politically engaged couple Iris and Peter von Roten. A special screening will honour cineaste Jacqueline Veuve, who passed away shortly after presentation of the Honorary Award this year. Tribute will be paid to this eminent Swiss documentary filmmaker with the screening of the films “Les frères Bapst” and “La petite dame du Capitole,” as well as a public talk with Jean Perret (director of the Film Department at HEAD) and film director Fernand Melgar.

Zurich, July 17, 2013