ZFF 2022

Multifaceted line-up of Swiss films with numerous world premieres

20.09.2022

A total of 18 Swiss film productions or coproductions will be presented at the 18th edition of the Zurich Film Festival from September 22 to October 2, 2022. The documentaries STUNTWOMEN by Elena Avdija and BECOMING GIULIA by Laura Kaehr will celebrate their world premieres, as well as Laurent Nègre’s political thriller A FORGOTTEN MAN and Barbara Kulcsar’s comedy GOLDEN YEARS. In addition, the festival audience can look forward to the premiere of the “first Swissploitation film” MAD HEIDI, which takes aim at the world-famous Swiss symbolic figure.

BECOMING GIULIA by Laura Kaehr
BECOMING GIULIA by Laura Kaehr
MAD HEIDI by Johannes Hartmann, Sandro Klopfstein
MAD HEIDI by Johannes Hartmann, Sandro Klopfstein

Screened in the Focus Competition are first, second or third directorial works from Switzerland, Germany and Austria. Screened as world premieres are the documentary films STUNTWOMEN by Elena Avdija, which sheds light on the hard-hitting daily business of professional stuntwomen, as well as Laura Kaehr’s BECOMING GIULIA, which portrays the prima ballerina Giulia Tonelli who has to fight to keep her place in the elite ballet company after maternity leave. Both are the directors’ first feature-length films.

In her documentary film GIRL GANG, Susanne Regina Meures offers an intimate glimpse into the life of a Berlin-based influencer and social-media megastar. The film is in the Documentary Selection of the European Film Awards. Antione Cattin’s HOLIDAYS is a cinematic mosaic shot in St. Petersburg that tells of a divided Russian society, xenophobia, class differences and gender relations. Both films celebrated their premieres at the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival CPH:DOX and will now make their Swiss premieres at the ZFF.

Also screened as Swiss premieres are two feature film debuts with striking, young leading actresses: THE WATER by Elena López Riera and THUNDER by Carmen Jaquier were both screened at the renowned film festivals in Toronto and San Sebastian in September. The same goes for the Canadian-Swiss coproduction SOMETHING YOU SAID LAST NIGHT by Luis de Filippis, which is in the running for the Golden Eye in the Feature Film Competition.

Gala premieres for Swiss feature films

Barbara Kulcsar’s best-age comedy GOLDEN AGE, starring the much-loved Swiss actors Stefan Kurt and Esther Gemsch, will celebrate its world premiere in the out-of-competition Gala Premieres section. In addition, Laurent Nègre’s political thriller A FORGOTTEN MAN, inspired by Thomas Hürlimann’s stage play “Der Gesandte”, highlights the shady role of the Swiss ambassador in Hitler’s Reich.

Also presented in the Gala Premieres section are Ursula Meier’s Berlinale film THE LINE and Kirill Serebrennikov’s Cannes film TCHAIKOVSKY’S WIFE, coproduced by Dan Wechsler and his company Bord Cadre film in Geneva.

Special Screenings with a crazed Heidi

The Special Screenings section will present the Swiss premiere of Jan Gassmann’s Cannes film 99 MOONS as well as the world premieres of Heinz Bütler’s documentary film ALBERT ANKER. MALSTUNDEN BEI RAFFAEL and the eagerly awaited action-adventure MAD HEIDI. Directors Johannes Hartmann and Sandro Klopfstein catapult the world-famous children’s book character into dystopian Switzerland that has fallen under the rule of a fascist cheese magnate. The film will be befittingly juxtaposed with the screening of a restored version of Luigi Comencini’s classic film HEIDI (1952).

Also presented as a Special Screening and world premiere will be the FUTURA! short film collection: ten original short documentaries by ten young Swiss filmmakers portray Switzerland in all its diversity, changing and developing at a rapid pace. This project was developed in collaboration with the Akka Films, Cinédokké and Dschoint Ventschr production companies and SRG SSR, RSI, RTS and SRF media.

RÄUBER HOTZENPLOTZ on the big screen

The ZFF children’s programme includes Dominique Othenin-Girard’s feature film COLOMBINE and the film version of the classic children’s book RÄUBER HOTZENPLOTZ by Michael Krummenacher. The latter was produced by the tried-and-tested German-Swiss team Claussen+Putz Filmproduktion and Zodiac Pictures, which have enjoyed enormous success at the box office with the children’s films DIE KLEINE HEXE, HEIDI and DAS KLEINE GESPENST.

A platform for Switzerland’s Oscar entry

In collaboration with SWISS FILMS, the ZFF has organised an exclusive screening of A PIECE OF SKY (DRII WINTER), Switzerland’s Oscar entry. Members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences attending the festival will have the opportunity to see the film in the presence of director Michael Koch and producer Christof Neracher (Hugofilm).

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