19/02/2007

Switzerland remained faithful to its world-class documentary reputation at the 57th Berlinale, where two domestic titles screened in the International Forum for Young Cinema won over the independent juries.

Jan Gassmann and Christian Ziörjen’s Chrigu [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Xefilms), on the late Ziörjen’s illness, received the Ecumencial Prize (€2,500).

Meanwhile, director Stefan Schwietert, winner of the 2005 Swiss Film Prize with Accordion Tribe, won two awards for Echoes of Home [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Maximage, Zurich), his new exploration of traditional music – this time that of the human voice. The title picked up the International Confederation of Arthouse Cinema Prize (CICAE), as well as the Tagesspiegel Readers’ Prize, a new award worth €3,000.

Three other Swiss films also premiered at Berlin: Jeanne Waltz’s Pas douce [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jeanne Waltz
interview: Pierre-Alain Meier
film profile], Thomas Imbach’s I Was a Swiss Banker [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Maria Speth’s German co-production Madonnas.

(Translated from French)