09/09/2009

Out in Swiss cinemas from September 10 and currently competing at Venice in the Horizons section, Pepperminta [+see also:
trailer
film profile] is the first film made for the big screen by Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist, known internationally for her eccentric and colourful video instalments.

Flanked by scriptwriter Chris Niemeyer and guided by Zurich outfit Hugofilm, Rist set out to tell a sharp, surrealist tale on the bitter search for happiness. Pepperminta (Ewelina Guzik) is a young idealist and inventive girl who has got it into her head to colour the planet. Along with her two friends, Werwen (Sven Pippig) a compulsive hypochondriac, and Edna (Sabine Timoteo), an androgyne who talks to tulips, she tries to overcome the fears that paralyse the world. Her aim: hypnotising people with a combination of wonderful colours. Rist’s feminine universe depicted with extravagance and sensuality is certainly on full show in Peperminta.

Winner of a Golden Lion at the 2000 Venice Biennale and a Joan Miró award in 2009, the video director says: "With this film, I want to reach a new audience via cinema and television in order to break down the class struggle between the type of people who visit museums and those who never put a foot inside one". Let’s see if the new director can fulfil that wish!