31/01/2025 - The winners of the festival’s 60th edition include Maja Tschumi and Nicola Bellucci’s titles, alongside Nikola Ilić’s short film Exit Through The Cuckoo’s Nest

(l-r) Quir director Nicola Bellucci and producer Frank Matter, and Immortals director Maja Tschumi and producer Nadine Lüchinger, with their awards

The 60th Solothurn Film Festival, a prime showcase of Swiss cinema, closed with the unveiling of its victors which are representative of engaged and poetic, powerful and aesthetically sophisticated movies. The prestigious Prix de Soleure (endowed with 60,000 Swiss francs) was awarded to the German-speaking filmmaker Maja Tschumi’s second feature film Immortals [+see also:
film review
film profile], which was presented in a world premiere in CPH:DOX and which follows a director and an activist called Khalili and Milo respectively, who use their voices and their bodies as weapons to fight the regime. The film is an enthralling portrayal of a generation of Iraqi men and women who dream of freedom in a world which tries to crush it at all costs. The jury - comprising author-director Bruno Deville, screenwriter Laila Stieler, and photojournalist Alex Kühni - commended this film "set apart by a non-linear structure, incorporating footage hailing from diverse sources and skilfully combining realism with fictitious scenes. The production team also curated the film’s original soundtrack to create an immersive experience. This subtle balance between aesthetic and storytelling helps the audience to identify with the main characters, offering a message of hope to an entire generation, if not an entire people".

The Audience Award, for its part, consisting of 20,000 Swiss francs, was awarded to the Italian director living in Switzerland Nicola Bellucci, for his fourth feature film Quir [+see also:
film review
interview: Nicola Bellucci
film profile]. In his poignantly staggering documentary, the filmmaker depicts characters on the edge who are fighting with love and affection against a patriarchal society marred by violence and discrimination. A crucial meeting point for the LGBTIQ+ community in Palermo, Massimo and Gino’s leatherware shop, Quir, becomes a kind of confessional where each of life’s difficult moments is attended to with tenderness and humour.

Last but not least, in terms of the short films and animated movies going home with awards, the trophy for Best Short Film, endowed with 10,000 Swiss francs, went to Exit Through The Cuckoo’s Nest by Nikola Ilić - a highly personal documentary short which tells the story of a solider who decides not to kill in a gesture of resistance, which lands him in military prison and, later, an asylum - while Nils Hedinger’s short film Storytelling walked away with Best Animated Film.

To recap, the prizes were as follows:

Prix de Soleure
Immortals [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Maja Tschumi (Switzerland/Iraq)

Audience Award
Quir [+see also:
film review
interview: Nicola Bellucci
film profile] – Nicola Bellucci (Switzerland)

Best Short Film
Exit Through The Cuckoo’s Nest – Nikola Ilić (Switzerland)

Best Animated Film
Storytelling - Nils Hedinger (Switzerland) (short film)

(Translated from French)