30/06/2023 - Based on a true story, this Swiss-German-produced film raises topical questions, such as opting for neutrality at a time of crisis

After experimenting with a variety of genres, from a fantastic film in the form of his graduate movie Like A Cast Shadow [+see also:
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film profile], which was selected for the Locarno Film Festival’s International Competition in 2015, not to mention his series Eight Days and the significant TV project Preis der Freiheit, Swiss director Michael Krummenacher has now chosen to try his hand at a historical film.

Shooting on the movie, written (together with Silvia Volkan) and directed by Krummenacher himself, kicked off in mid-June and is set to continue until mid-July in the Swiss regions of Zurich, San Gallo, Glarona and Grigioni, as well as in Bavaria. Landesverräter tells the tale of Ernst Schrämli (played by Dimitri Krebs), a poor vagabond with a tormented past who dreamed of becoming a singer but who’s actually remembered as the first Swiss traitor. During the Second World War, Schrämli sells information belonging to the Swiss army - a diagram of a bunker and a few grenades – to a Nazi secret agent (played by German actor Fabian Hinrichs, seen last year in We Are Next of Kin [+see also:
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As stressed by the film’s two producers Ivan Madeo and Stefan Eichenberg, the movie plays skilfully on two levels: a more universal level relating to the naivety and subsequent manipulation of a young man who’ll do anything to free himself from the poverty and indifference which has always surrounded him, and a more topical level relating to the thorny matter of Swiss neutrality. When the victory of Nazi Germany victory started to look like a pipe dream, Schrämli was actually singled out as a symbol of vindicated neutrality. By sentencing him to death, sacrificing one its own citizens, the Swiss Confederation sought to send a strong message: our role must be to remain neutral. But can we really pretend to be neutral in tragic contexts such as war? This is just one of the many questions raised by the film.

Young Swiss actress Luna Wedler (of Amateur Teens [+see also:
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interview: Luna Wedler
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Landesverräter is produced by Zurich’s Contrast Film (Ivan Madeo, Stefan Eichenberg, Urs Frey), who previously produced Wonderland, and by German firms Amalia Film (Felix von Poser) and Letterbox Filmproduktion (Michael Lenman), in co-production with Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen, SRG SSR, ZDF, ARTE and Blue Entertainment. The film also enjoys funding from the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, the Zurich Film Foundation, the cantons of San Gallo and Svitto, Suissimage, FFF Bayern and from the Federal German Film Fund DFFF. Distribution in Switzerland, scheduled for next year, is entrusted to Ascot Elite.

(Translated from Italian)