Berlinale 2021: Diverse selection of Swiss films

Due to the current situation, the 71^st Berlin International Film Festival has developed a new festival format: the film selections for the festival sections will be presented to the film industry at the virtual European Film Market EFM from March 1-5, 2021. An international jury will decide on the awards in Berlin. The films will then be presented publicly to the Berlin audience in June.

Two Swiss entries screened in Encounters

The Encounters section offers a platform for a total of twelve aesthetically and structurally daring works by independent, innovative filmmakers. Andreas Fontana’s film AZOR is a coproduction between Alina film (Geneva), Ruda cine (Buenos Aires) and Local Films (Paris). In his feature film debut, Fontana tells the story of a Swiss banker who searches for his partner who has disappeared without a trace in Buenos Aires during the Argentinean military dictatorship. The film project was awarded in the “The Films After Tomorrow” special section at the Locarno Film Festival last August.

THE GIRL AND THE SPIDER by Roman and Silvan Zürcher, produced by Beauvoir Films, is the second feature film by the twin brothers. They compose a poetic panopticon comprising forms of human relationships that alternate between a psychological study of everyday life and fairy tale. The film features the Swiss actresses Liliane Amuat, Ursina Lardi and Sabine Timoteo, among others.

From Sundance to the Forum

Screened in the Berlinale Forum is Georgian director Salomé Jashi’s documentary film TAMING THE GARDEN, which celebrated its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. The film by Mira Film in Switzerland is a Swiss-Georgian-German coproduction. The film follows the journey of some 100-year-old trees that a rich man had dug up along the Georgian coast in order to have transplanted in his private park.

Güzin Kar’s short documentary YOUR STREET is part of the Berlinale Shorts competition. A faceless street in the industrial area of Bonn, which bears the name of a child, a victim of a racist attack. This prompts Kar to reflect on the meaning of public memorials. The film, narrated by the writer and author Sibylle Berg, celebrated its world premiere at the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur and is nominated for the Swiss Film Award for Best Short Film.

Teenagers in crisis and apocalyptic mood

Frédéric Baillif’s THE FAM will screen in the Generation 14plus competition. It was produced by Geneva-based Freshprod. Baillif tells of crises and conflicts in a group of teenage girls, all played by amateur actresses, who are living as companions in fate at a home for youth.

The German-Swiss coproduction TIDES by Tim Fehlbaum is selected for the Berlinale Special section. After a global catastrophe, a young astronaut finds herself alone in an inhospitable environment: the earth is completely under water. As with his first feature film HELL, the Swiss director and cinematographer has staged a dystopian thriller. Fehlbaum worked with the famous producer Roland Emmerich for TIDES. The film was coproduced by Vega Film in Zurich. The international cast includes Joel Basman, Switzerland’s Shooting Star at the Berlinale 2008.

Luna Wedler, Switzerland’s Shooting Star 2018, is the protagonist in the German-Czech film JE SUIS KARL by Christian Schwochow. The film will screen in the Berlinale Special. Actress Sabine Timoteo plays the lead role in the German-Italian-Danish film HUMAN FACTORS by Ronny Trocker screening in the Panorama. The French feature THEO AND THE METAMORPHOSIS coproduced by Swiss producer Dan Wechsler (Bord cadre films) will also be presented in the Panorama.

Berlinale Talents

Berlinale Talents, the international networking platform for up-and-coming talents, will also take place online and at the same time as the European Film Market. It offers talents from all genres the opportunity to present projects and network with industry representatives.

Four participants have been invited from Switzerland: director Jorge Cadena (THE JARARIJU SISTERS) is currently working on his first feature film TROPICAL MALAISE. Screenwriter and director Kantarama Gahagiri (ETHEREALITY) is developing her Afrofuturistic thriller TANZANITE. Luciano Azzigotti, who is studying at the Bern University of the Arts HKB, and Mirjam Skal, Master student at the Zurich University of the Arts ZHdK, are two composers participating in Berlinale Talents.

The feature film project WILD ENCOUNTERS by director Sarah Arnold is one of the 35 projects from all over the world that have been invited to the Berlinale Co-Production Market. Arnold was honoured with an award for her project at the ScriptLab of the Torino Film Lab 2019. The film will be produced by the French company 5à7 Films.

SWISS FILMS will be represented with a virtual stand at the European Film Market EFM. In order to strengthen the market potential for Swiss film productions abroad, the Swiss Federal Office of Culture (SFOC) supports the participation of Swiss film productions at international film festivals. SWISS FILMS is responsible for the implementation of this support measure.

SWISS FILMS, February 26, 2021