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FESTIVALS Switzerland

The Solothurn Film Festival unveils its programme

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- The Solothurn Film Festival will celebrate from 21 to 28 January the best of Swiss cinema, with established names and promising young talent

The Solothurn Film Festival unveils its programme
Fragments du paradis by Stéphane Goël

Every year the most beautiful baroque city in Switzerland is transformed for one week into the capital of Swiss cinema. The Solothurn Film Festival, which will be in its 51st edition next month, will soon celebrate the best of Swiss cinema with an explosion of productions spanning fiction and documentary, with everything from “well-established” films that have already won important awards at festivals to world premieres.

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Nine films will battle it out for the prestigious “Prix de Soleure”. Opening the Festival (and the competition) will be Die Schwalbe [+see also:
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trailer
film profile
]
by Mano Khalil, a family drama (and the only fictional film in competition) that unfolds on the breath-taking plains of mysterious and war-torn Kurdistan. Along with it are eight documentaries. Some of them adopt a more introspective approach, such as Das Leben drehen-Wien mein Vater versuchte, das Glück festzuhalten [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, the debut feature film of Eva Vitija, About Heaven [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Stéphane Goël and Zen for Nothing by Wernel Penzel, which follows Sabine Timoteo on her quest for spirituality; others opt instead for a total immersion approach, like the multi-award-winning Above and Below [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Nicolas Steiner and Wie die anderen by Constantin Wulff, which portrays the working conditions of a group of child psychiatrists. Finally there’s a more directly political group, with the captivating Citizen Khodorovsky by Eric Bergkraut, the highly current Democracy-Im Rausch der Daten [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: David Bernet
film profile
]
 by David Bernet and Sila and the Gatekeepers of the Arctic by Corina Gamma, which transports us to Greenland in the throes of climate change.

Nine fictional films and a documentary, Swing It Kids [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Fabian Kimoto, will instead compete for the “Prix du public”. Among them are two moving portraits of contemporary man (and fathers): Keeper [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Guillaume Senez ­
interview: Kacey Mottet Klein
film profile
]
by Guillaume Senez, a regular face at international festivals, Nicht passiert [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Micha Lewinsky, and four representations of women: the captivating The Miracle of Tekir [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Ruxandra Zenide, Sibylle [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Michael Krummenacher (one of those behind ensemble film Wonderland [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carmen Jaquier and Lionel R…
film profile
]
), Le temps d’Anna
by Greg Zglinski and Lina [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Michael Schaerer, who unveils a dark chapter in Swiss history.

Saving the best till last, the “Panorama suisse” section, which is the beating heart of the Festival, will showcase the best of Swiss cinema from the past year, with no fewer than 187 films and 18 world premieres, 3 European premieres and 8 Swiss premieres. To mention but a few, they include (between well-established names and young new talent), the explosive Offshore-Elmer und das Bankgeheimnis by Werner Aschweizer, the technological The Chinese Recipe mutig und klug by Jürg Neuenschwander and Pipeline, the first film by young Gabriel Bonnefoy.

The icing on the cake is the new “Beyond Borders” section, aimed at strengthening the links between Swiss cinema and the rest of Europe. Various European film critics will be invited to debate certain Swiss films and representatives from four international festivals will present the highlights of their programmes.

Over the course of this packed week there will also be a presentation of Dedication, the final unfinished film by great Swiss director Peter Liechti.

Ursina Lardi, a familiar face on the Swiss film scene, will be the Festival’s guest of honour this year.

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(Translated from Italian)

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