25/03/2025 - Klaudia Reynicke and Simon Baumann’s films have been crowned Best Fiction Film and Best Documentary, respectively, by the Swiss Film Academy

Director Klaudia Reynicke with her Swiss Film Awards for Reinas (© Swiss Film Awards)

Reinas [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Klaudia Reynicke
film profile] by Swiss-Peruvian director Klaudia Reynicke has scooped the Swiss Film Award for Best Fiction Film and We, the Inheritors by Simon Baumann Best Documentary.

The big winner, Reinas - a poignant and powerful story revolving around resistance as well as resilience - takes us back to 1992 when Peru was plagued by major political turmoil and follows in the footsteps of Lucia and Aurora who are forced to follow their mother who decides to emigrate to the USA in search of a better life. The film enjoyed its world premiere in the Sundance Film Festival and has enjoyed incredible international success, which led to its selection at the Berlinale, where it nabbed the International Jury Grand Prize in the Generation Kplus section, and Locarno, where it won the Piazza Grande’s Audience Award, to name just two of its accolades, and as Switzerland's Oscar submission.

In the documentary category, meanwhile, We, the Inheritors reigned supreme, a moving, realist film which touches a sensitive nerve to tell an intimate and sensitive family-focused story in which the director’s parents reflect upon the legacy they’ll be leaving their children. The film was presented in a world premiere in the Locarno Film Festival’s Critics’ Week sidebar.

The Geneva-based ceremony hosted by the Swiss Film Academy on Friday also saw Best Screenplay awarded to Ramon Zürcher for his movie The Sparrow in the Chimney [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ramon and Silvan Zürcher
film profile], which also walked away with Best Sound (Ramon Zürcher, Peter von Siebenthal, Balthasar Jucker). Best Cinematography, for its part, went to Gabriel Sandru (Electric Child [+see also:
film review
interview: Simon Jaquemet
film profile]), Best Editing to Kevin Schlosser for his work on Claude Baechtold’s documentary Riverboom, and Best Film Music to Marcel Vaid (Paradises of Diane [+see also:
film review
interview: Carmen Jaquier & Jan Gassmann
film profile]), and that’s without forgetting the trophies for Best Female Performances and Best Male Performance won by Laetitia Dosch (Dog on Trial [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laetitia Dosch
film profile]), David Constantin (for the series Tschugger – The Last Fall) and Dimitri Krebst (The Traitor [+see also:
film review
film profile]).

Last but not least, Rachel Braunschweig bagged Best Supporting Role for her part in Frieda’s Case while Samuel Patthey’s short film Sans voix won Best Animated Film. Southern Brides by Elena López Riera earned itself the accolade of Best Short Film while Maman danse by Mégane Brügger claimed Best Graduate Film (ECAL - École cantonale d’art de Lausanne).

This year’s winners’ list clearly demonstrates that Swiss cinema is capable of telling poignant and powerful stories which encourage the audience to think about the world around them - about its beauty but also its contradictions.

The 2025 Honorary Swiss Film Prize was awarded to Barbet Schroeder and Bulle Ogier for their collaborative work, with the Academy also deciding to distinguish Olivier Keller with the Special Academy Prize for his work as a stunt coordinator on Tschugger – The Last Fall.

The full list of winners is as follows:

Best Fiction Film
Reinas [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Klaudia Reynicke
film profile] – Klaudia Reynicke (Switzerland/Peru/Spain)

Best Documentary
We, the Inheritors – Simon Baumann

Best Animated Film
Sans voix – Samuel Patthey (short film)

Best Female Performance
Laetitia Dosch – Dog on Trial [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laetitia Dosch
film profile] (Switzerland/France)

Best Male Performance
David Constantin – Tschugger – The Last Fall (series)
Dimitri Krebs – The Traitor [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Switzerland/Germany)

Best Supporting Role
Rache Braunschweig – Frieda’s Case

Best Screenplay
The Sparrow in the Chimney [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ramon and Silvan Zürcher
film profile] – Ramon Zürcher

Best Cinematography
Gabriel Sandru – Electric Child [+see also:
film review
interview: Simon Jaquemet
film profile] (Switzerland/Germany/Netherlands)

Best Editing
Kevin Schlosser – Riverboom

Best Sound
Ramon Zürcher, Peter von Siebenthal, Balthasar Jucker – The Sparrow in the Chimney

Best Film Music
Marcel Vaid – Paradises of Diane [+see also:
film review
interview: Carmen Jaquier & Jan Gassmann
film profile]

Best Short Film
Southern Brides - Elena López Riera (Spain/Switzerland/France)

Best Graduate Film
Maman danse - Mégane Brügger

Swiss Film Academy Special Prize
Oliver Keller, stunt coordinator – Tschugger – The Last Fall

Swiss Film Academy Prize of Honour
Barbet Schroeder and Bulle Ogier, for their collaborative work

(Translated from French)