Tobias Nölle

Tobias Nölle (b. 1976, Erlenbach, Switzerland) studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York (1999–2003). At Locarno the short René (2008) earned him a Golden Leopard in the national competition as the Best Swiss Short. With René and its melancholy contemplation of the hero’s microworld, Nölle anticipated his subsequent feature debut. As writer-director he contributed to the collective mosaic Wonderland (Heimatland, 2015), screened last year in competition at Locarno. Here, too, is a linking motif: instead of an isolated hero, the protagonist of the film is an entire country that decides to distance itself from everything round it. The director states that lyrical films based on atmosphere rather than plot (like Aloys) are more demanding, since the construction of a fragile fictional world requires greater sensitivity than a narrative built upon a chain of events. 

Source: Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2016