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<\/p>\n\n\tSwiss cinema is resonating domestically and abroad as homegrown films and international co-productions continue to entice local audiences and festival goers around the globe.<\/p>\n
\n\tAt Venice this year, Swiss titles and co-productions boasting high-profile talent unspool throughout the festival. Switzerland is also a country of focus at the Venice Production Bridge industry strand with seven projects taking part in the Gap-Financing Market and two in the Immersive Market.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cFor a relatively small and multilingual market, the combination of domestic relevance and international reach is significant,\u201d says Nicola Ruffo, director of promotional organization Swiss Films.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\u2018Who Is Still Alive\u2019<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of First Hand Films<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cLast year proved that there is a real appetite \u2014 fiction, documentaries, films from different linguistic regions and very different kinds of stories all found their audiences. Several of these films also traveled extremely well internationally. Petra Volpe<\/a>\u2019s \u2018Late Shift<\/a>,\u2019 for example, was a box office success on the domestic market but also sold more than 670,000 tickets outside Switzerland by the end of 2025,\u201d adds Ruffo.<\/p>\n \n\tVenice, Ruffo notes, has in recent years \u201cbecome a very good snapshot of the vitality of Swiss cinema. We have Swiss films and co-productions appearing across very different parts of the festival. Last year there were the world premieres of \u2018Memory of Princess Mumbi\u2019 by Damien Hauser or this year\u2019s Swiss Oscar-entry, \u2018Who Is Still Alive,\u2019<\/a> by Nicolas Wadimoff, who also received an award in Venice.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\u2018The Indies\u2019 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Alina Film<\/p>\n \n\tIndeed, this year Pauline Julier and Nicolas Chapoulier\u2019s historical drama \u201cThe Indies<\/a>,\u201d from Spain\u2019s Lastor Media<\/a> and Switzerland\u2019s Alina Film<\/a>, is competing in Giornate degli Autori, while Wim Wenders<\/a>\u2019 documentary \u201cFrom Inside Out \u2014 The Architecture of Peter Zumthor,\u201d about one of Switzerland\u2019s most internationally renowned architects, premieres in Venice\u00a0Open \u2014 Out of Competition. The film is produced by Wenders\u2019 Road Movies and German-Swiss shareholding partner DCM group.<\/p>\n \n\tIn addition, Geneva-based Sunny Independent Pictures is among the producers of Iranian filmmaker Ali Asgari\u2019s main competition title \u201cA Bit of Light,\u201d which centers on a dejected doctor whose suicidal tendencies are checked by his family\u2019s compassion.<\/p>\n \n\tThe producers of Venezia Spotlight premiere title \u201cGuria,\u201d Levan Koguashvili\u2019s feature about a stubborn, widowed hazelnut farmer looking to improve his prospects in a Georgian village left destitute by the collapse of the Soviet Union, include Zurich\u2019s Cineworx Filmproduktion, while Gilles Jobin\u2019s \u201cSunset Motel,\u201d from Geneva\u2019s Nadasdy Film and Cie Gilles Jobin, represents Switzerland in the Venice Immersive competition.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWhat excites me is really the range,\u201d Ruffo stresses. \u201cIt is difficult to reduce contemporary Swiss cinema to one aesthetic or a specific topic \u2014 and I think that is a strength.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIndeed, this year\u2019s Swiss selection at the Venice Production Bridge offers a glimpse of \u201cwhat may be coming next,\u201d he adds. \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAmong them are works by both up-and-coming and well-established filmmakers such as Flurin Giger, who is developing \u201cA Year Without Summer,\u201d Valentin Merz, who presents \u201cChocolat Amer,\u201d St\u00e9phanie Argerich with \u201cKyushu Moon,\u201d Kaveh Bakhtiari, who is developing \u201cThe Smuggler,\u201d and Ursula Meier<\/a> with \u201cQuiet Land.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThese are very different filmmakers and projects, many of them working internationally from an early stage, which is precisely what makes the current generation interesting,\u201d Ruffo notes. \u201cThere is also an interesting bridge between this emerging generation and established filmmakers who continue to reinvent themselves.\u201c<\/p>\n \n\tMeier\u2019s upcoming \u201cQuiet Land,\u201d for example, is a Swiss-French-Canadian project selected for the Venice Gap-Financing Market that\u2019s set to shoot in North America. \u201cKyushu Moon,\u201d another Gap-Financing Market title, will lens in Japan, while \u201cThe Smuggler\u201d will film in Greece. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tRuffo points out that Switzerland is seeing \u201ca continued stream of strong international co-productions\u201d characterized by universal themes.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cProjects such as \u2018Quiet Land\u2019 bring together Switzerland, France and Canada; \u2018The Smuggler\u2019 connects Switzerland, Greece and France; and \u2018A Year Without Summer\u2019 is Swiss-German.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAt the same time, many of these films remain rooted in very specific places, communities and personal experiences. There is a recurring interest in questions of identity, belonging and how individuals navigate social and cultural boundaries.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThere is another development that Ruffo finds particularly interesting: \u201cthe move toward English-language filmmaking.\u201d At the Venice Production Bridge, Swiss filmmakers Tim Fehlbaum<\/a> (\u201cSeptember 5\u201c), Ursula Meier and Michael Koch will come together at a panel to discuss precisely this question: What opportunities does work in English create for Swiss directors in terms of international casts, financing and audiences? And what does it mean for the identity of Swiss cinema?<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\u2018Frank & Louis\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCredit: Rob Baker Ashton<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n