The Solothurn Film Festival unveils a rich and diverse programme of events
- The 53rd edition of the festival is all about originality and innovation, not just in the content of the selected films, but also in their styles
As ever, the marathon of cinema that is the Solothurn Film Festival (25 January – 1 February 2018) will screen the very best of Swiss film, condensed into 159 long and short features and including many premières.
New this year and among other changes is the introduction of a new section, “Focus Lab”, dedicated to new technologies and, more specifically, virtual and augmented reality – this is real red-carpet treatment for a form that is fast becoming an integral part of the filmmaking industry.
Nine films are in competition for the Solothurn Jury Award. The new and long-awaited film by Fernand Melgar, At the Philosophers' School [+see also:
film review
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interview: Fernand Melgar
film profile], kicks off proceedings, offering a window onto day-to-day life at a school for disabled children. Of the nine selected, three are young, promising directors’ debut films and what unites them is their desire to ask questions about their own origins, their own family story. In You May Go [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Gregor Frei’s father and a group of neighbours must wrestle with uncomfortable existential dilemmas, and Of Sheep and Men [+see also:
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film profile] by Karim Sayad brings to life the Algerian district that has been etched into his mind since his childhood days. Fell in Love with a Girl [+see also:
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film profile] by Kaleo La Belle, The Fourth Estate [+see also:
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film profile] by Dieter Fahrer and A Long Way Home [+see also:
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film profile] by Luc Schaedler will close the selected group of documentaries. Alongside these are just two fiction films, but what they lack in number they make up for in appeal: Mario [+see also:
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film profile] by Marcel Gisler, which explores the sore subject of homosexuality in the world of sport, and Vacuum [+see also:
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interview: Christine Repond
film profile] by Christine Repond, an uncompromising portrait of a couple having to contend with a life-altering and devastating reality.
The Audience Prize category is just as diverse, taking in films by well-known directors such as Silvio Soldini (Emma [+see also:
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film profile]), as well as first films like Tranquillo [+see also:
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film profile] by Jonathan Jäggi, and To the End of the Dreams [+see also:
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film profile] where we see writer Wilfried Meichtry turn director for the very first time.
Also unmissable is the long-awaited Swiss Panorama selection and screenings will include the series, Ondes de choc, four radical films by Lionel Baier, Jean-Stéphane Bron, Ursula Meier and Frédéric Mermoud (AKA Bande à part Films) made for Swiss public broadcaster RTS.
Last but not least, this year’s “Rencontre” program will honour Zurich director, Christoph Schaub.
(Translated from Italian)
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