email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

AWARDS Switzerland

The Circle is the big winner for the Swiss Film Award

by 

- It’s Geneva’s turn this Friday, for the second time, to host the long-awaited Swiss Film Award

The Circle is the big winner for the Swiss Film Award
The winners of the Swiss Film Award

Since 2013 the prestigious Swiss Film Award, organized by the Federal Office for Culture in partnership with the SRG SSR and the “Quartz” association in collaboration with Swiss Films, the Swiss Film Academy and the Solothurn Film Festival, is awarded alternatively in the French-speaking Swiss capital and in Zurich. The idea was born from the desire to create a real bridge between these two symbolic regions of Swiss cinema production that don’t meet often enough. The suggestive Bâtiment des Forces Motrices will be the privileged setting for this event that brings together the best of Swiss film. 

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Eleven categories will battle it out for a total of 21 films (re) offered to the audience during the “Nominations Week”. The latter is not just a showcase of the most important productions of the last 12 months (all of the nominated films are screened from 9 to 15 March at the Cinémas du Grütli in Geneva and at the Fimpodium in Zurich) but also a meeting point for debates with the stars of Swiss cinema. We look forward to master classes by Stina Werenfels and Bruno Deville

The big winner this year is the documentary fiction The Circle [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stefan Haupt
film profile
]
by Stefan Haupt, Swiss Oscar nominee, that has won four awards (in all of the categories for which it was nominated): Best Fiction Film, Best Screenplay (shared by the director with Christian Felix, Ivan Madeo and Urs Frey), Best Actor (that goes to 2015 Shooting Star Sven Schelker) and Best Supporting Role (for Peter Jecklin). Perhaps most unexpected is the captivating documentary by Marcel Gisler Electroboy [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, that takes home two “Quartz”: for Best Documentary and for Best Editing (Thomas Bachmann). The big favourite this year Chrieg [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Simon Jaquemet
film profile
]
by Simon Jaquemet on the other hand, has to “be content” with just one award (out of the five categories for which it was nominated), that of Best Photography went to Lorenz Merz

Pause [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, by Mathieu Urfer, missed out on the Award for Best Fiction but took home the Award for Best Music, composed by Urfer himself with Ariel Garcia, Marcin de Morsier and John Woolloff. The captivating Sabine Timoteo received the Award for Best Actress for her moving performance in Driften [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile
]
by Karim Patwa. In animation Timber by Nils Hedinger took home the “Quartz”. Discipline by Christophe M. Saber beat its four rivals (including Tišina Mujo by Ursula Meier) and took home the Award for Best Short Film. The Swiss Film Academy instead decided to this year grant the Special Academy Award to photography director Patrick Lindermaier who with his magic approach was able to highlight a multitude of Swiss films including The Blocher Experiment [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Jean Stéphane Bron and Longwaves [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lionel Baier
festival scope
film profile
]
by Lionel Baier. Last but not least, legendary Franco-Swiss director Jean Luc Godard earned the Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

(Translated from Italian)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy