02/06/2021 - The selection committees for the different Swiss film-funding institutions, such as the FOC, Cinéforom, the Zurich Film Foundation and several other canton-specific bodies, took place in March

Director Margarethe von Trotta, who has received funding for her new film Ingeborg Bachmann – Journey into the Desert

All of the most important Swiss film-funding bodies have held their first selection committee for the first quarter of 2021 and have now published the decisions for their selective film support. The different institutions meet several times a year, usually organising three or four sessions, during which a pool of experts deliberate on how the funding should be distributed.

Besides the Federal Office of Culture (FOC), the biggest institutions are Cinéforom, (Fondation romande pour le cinéma), set up by the French-speaking cantons to support projects with a regional focus, and the film foundations of the cantons of Zurich and Bern. While they all support the production as well as the development of projects, the Migros Kulturprozent (Migros Culture Percentage) concentrates specifically on the development of ideas.

The FOC has granted total support of approximately 4.4 million Swiss francs to fictional projects, among them five scripts in development, four features directed by a Swiss national and five minority co-productions. Among the films by Swiss directors are Der fliegende Berg by Nicolas Steiner (Above and Below [+see also:
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interview: Delphine Lehericey
film profile] by Delphine Lehericey (Beyond the Horizon [+see also:
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interview: Delphine Lehericey
film profile]), produced by Box Productions (Switzerland) and Need Productions (Belgium), with support of 900,000 Swiss francs. Two more features backed were Laissez-moi [+see also:
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film profile] by Maxime Rappaz (800,000 Swiss francs), a co-production between GoldenEggProductions (Switzerland), Paraiso Production (France) and Fox the Fox (Belgium), and the new film Ingeborg Bachmann – Journey into the Desert [+see also:
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interview: Margarethe von Trotta
film profile] by Margarethe von Trotta (500,000 Swiss francs), produced by Tellfilm (Switzerland), Heimatfilm (Germany), Amour Fou Vienna (Austria) and Amour Fou Luxembourg (Luxembourg). The supported scripts are Der rote Pfeil by David Geiser (production by Letterbox Collective, 55,000 Swiss francs), the Swiss-Italian project Frontaliers Catastrofe by Alberto Meroni and Barbara Buracchio (30,000 Swiss francs, production by Inmagine SA), Il était deux fois by Dominique Turin (28,000 Swiss francs, production by IDIP Films Sarl), Offline by Juri Steinhart (45,000 Swiss francs, production by Lomotion AG) and, finally, Wie unsichtbar by Anna Schinz (30,000 Swiss francs, production by C-Films AG).

The minority productions supported by the FOC are the documentary The Last Expedition by Eliza Kubarska, receiving 92,000 Swiss francs, produced by TILT Production (Switzerland), Braidmade Films (Poland) and Insel Film (Germany), as well as the children’s novel adaptation Der Räuber Hotzenplotz [+see also:
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film profile] by Michael Krummenacher, supported with 470,000 Swiss francs, and produced by Zodiac Pictures (Switzerland) and Claussen+Putz (Germany). Finally, the new film by Élise Girard, Sidonie in Japan [+see also:
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interview: Élise Girard
film profile], gets 283,000 Swiss francs, and it is being staged by Box Productions (Switzerland), Lupa Film (Germany) and 10:15! Productions (France).

For documentaries, the institution is providing the sum of around 1.2 million Swiss francs. Among the three projects in development are Hugo a Venezia by Stefano Knuchel (35,000 Swiss francs, production: Fiumi Film), Kill for Peace by Michael Koch (24,000 Swiss francs, production: Ensemble Film GmbH) and Planet der Kinder by Svetlana Rodina (25,000 Swiss francs, production: DokLab GmbH). A further 108,000 Swiss francs went towards supporting the production costs of Based on a True Story by Lisa Gerig, produced by Ensemble Film GmbH; 50,000 Swiss francs went to Dynamic Wisdom by Elise Shubs, staged by Casa Azul Films; 140,000 Swiss francs went to Preparations For a Miracle by Tobias Nölle, produced by hugofilm; the same amount went to La ruée vers le nord by Karim Sayad (My English Cousin [+see also:
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interview: Karim Sayad
film profile]), produced by Close Up Films Sarl; 100,000 Swiss francs went to La scomparsa di Bruno Breguet [+see also:
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The committee of the Cinéforom Foundation, made up of seven professionals from the film industry, supported fictions, documentaries and animations with a total amount of 770,000 Swiss francs. For the documentaries, an amount of 100,000 Swiss francs were conferred upon La ruée vers le nord by Karim Sayad. 90,000 Swiss francs go to Silke by Coline Confort (production by DreamPixies Sarl), while 50,000 Swiss francs go to each of Crettaz, et comme l’espérance est violente by Nasser Bakhti (production by Troubadour Films) and Dynamic Wisdom by Elise Schubs. Red by Élodie Demange, Mara Manzolini and Andrea Pellerani receives 45,000 Swiss francs (production by Amka Films) and Mes amis espagnols by Adrien Bordone 40,000 Swiss francs (production by hiddenframe GmbH). Besides the contribution of 30,000 Swiss francs to Sidonie in Japan by Elise Girard, also co-funded by the FOC, the foundation earmarked 250,000 Swiss francs for L'échappée by Hugues Hariche, produced by Beauvoir Films (Switzerland) and Geko Films (France).

As for the Zurich Film Foundation, around 2 million Swiss francs went to fictional projects and 660,000 Swiss francs to documentaries. The foundation is also supporting Margarethe von Trotta's Bachmann and Frisch with 800,000 Swiss francs. The sum of 110,000 Swiss francs goes to Brüche by Ralph Etter (Presence Production), 300,000 Swiss francs to Das Netz – Ein Wintermärchen by Rick Ostermann (hugofilm, Sommerhaus Serien and Beta Film), 350,000 Swiss francs to Maëly's Rätsel by Jean-Marc Duperrex (Dschoint Ventschr) and, finally, 369,921 Swiss francs to the TV series Tschugger by David Constantin. In addition to the FOC’s support, the projects Der rote Pfeil by David Geiser and Wie unsichtbar by Anna Schinz get 40,000 and 20,000 Swiss francs, respectively.

The documentaries supported in their development phase by the Zurich Film Foundation are Brunaupark by Felix Hergert (38,000 Swiss francs, Bernard Lang AG), Die wundersame Verwandlung der Arbeiterklasse in Ausländer by Samir (42,000 Swiss francs, Dschoint Ventschr), Naima by Anna Thommen (21,000 Swiss francs, Emilia Productions), The Host by Christian Frei (Christian Frei Filmproduktionen) and Was wir uns schulden by Fabian Kaiser (25,000 Swiss francs, Lucky Film). To help with production costs, 90,000 Swiss francs were earmarked for Bergfahrt by Dominique Margot, produced by Maximage; 70,000 Swiss francs for Claudia Andujar by Heidi Specogna, produced by PS Film GmbH; 65,000 Swiss francs for Outsourcing European Borders by Gerald Igor Hauzenberger, produced by Mira Film (Switzerland) and FrameLab (Austria); 60,000 Swiss francs for Suppe Seife Seelenheil by Thomas Thümena, produced by hugofilm doc; 55,000 Swiss francs for The Last Expedition by Eliza Kubarska; and 140,000 Swiss francs for Unser Geld by Hercli Bundi, produced by Mira Film.

Moving on to the Bern Film Foundation, it handed out around 300,000 Swiss francs, distinguishing between six titles in development, six graduation films, two features and five shorts. Development funding to the tune of 30,000 Swiss francs goes to the experimental script project Hotpot by Jeshua Dreyfus, Ken Zumstein and Stephan Schoenholtz. Supported with the same amount are The Shaman's Dream by Jonas Scheu and Yalla! by Tamar Ruggli. 22,000 Swiss francs go to You, Me and the Beginning of Everything by Jacqueline Zünd and Arne Kohlweyer, 28,000 Swiss francs to Der Bergsteiger und der Sherpa by Armin Biehler, and another 17,843 Swiss francs to Place Publique by Jan Buchholz. The six graduation films each get the sum of 5,000 Swiss francs, and are 3,5% by Lukas Bieri, Sauna by Lara Perren (an animated short produced by HSLU Lucerne and SRF), Pechvogel by Océane Klingier, Coffee Breaker by Viviane Barben, Dude by Tanax Sirin and Der Apotheker von la Spezia by Fabian Lütolf. The five shorts getting production funding are the animated documentary Die Geschichten von den Schuhen by Rahel Landolt (10,000 Swiss francs, production by Asako Film and Zeitraum Film GmbH), the animations Storytelling by Nils Hedinger (29,500 Swiss francs) and Heimspiel by Stephan Wicki (47,000 Swiss francs, production by wickifilm), Stelvio by Matthias Nydegger (15,000 Swiss francs) and Aminata by Djibril Vuille (20,000 Swiss francs, production by Presence Production GmbH). The two feature-length productions set to be funded are the documentaries My Old Man [+see also:
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Committed to supporting ideas for feature films, the Migros Culture Percentage granted ten projects the sum of 15,000 Swiss francs apiece. This is the case for two separate projects at once by actress Anna Zuercher and cinematographer Pietro Zuercher, I Can't Forget, but I Don't Remember What and Grave, c'est autre chose. Among the other chosen ideas are La Casa by Swiss-Colombian director Juan José Lozano, La Ligne Droite by Jasmin Gordon and Julien Bouissoux, and Shivas drittes Auge by Maria Sigrist and Satindar Singh Bedi. Jacqueline Zünd is getting funding for You, Me and the Beginning of Everything in addition to the support mentioned above. Further support goes to Maxime Rappaz for Comment allez-vous (production by GoldenEggProductions), Fanny Bräuning (The Journey – A Story of Love [+see also:
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interview: Ramon Zürcher and Silvan Zü…
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