05/03/2009

On Saturday, March 7, all eyes will be on the 12th Swiss Film Awards. For the first time, Swiss public television will roll out the red carpet for the most prestigious awards ceremony in Switzerland.

Over one evening and night, the broadcaster will show highlights from the Quartz trophy presentation ceremony. The gems of domestic film production will also be screened until dawn on five public TV channels, in three national languages (German, French and Italian).

In honour of the directors, screenwriters, actors and artists whose nominations were announced at the Solothurn Film Festival, a gala event will be held in Lucerne, on the shores of the Lake of the Four Cantons. The crème de la crème of the Swiss entertainment and political world is expected to attend.

The Swiss Film Award jury is made up of prominent personalities Emmanuelle Antille (artist and director), Isabelle Favez (animated film director), Pierre Favre (musician), Barbara Lorey de Lacharrière (film critic), Silvio Soldini (director), Anatole Taubman (actor) and Ruth Waldburger (producer).

The five films vying for the Quartz for Best Feature are: Ursula Meier’s Home [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kacey Mottet Klein
interview: Thierry Spicher
interview: Ursula Meier
film profile] (which went home empty-handed from the Cesar Awards ceremony, despite its three nominations), Vincent Pluss’ The Noise In My Head [+see also:
trailer
interview: Céline Bolomey
film profile], Christoph Schaub’s Happy New Year [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Oliver Paulus’ Tandoori Love [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Lionel Baier’s Another Man [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lionel Baier
film profile].

Competing in the Best Documentary category are Olivier Zuchuat’s Far From the Villages, Danilo Catti’s Giù le mani, Fernand Melgar’s The Fortress [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Fanny Bräuning’s No More Smoke Signals and Yves Scagliola’s The Beast Within.

(Translated from French)