Robin Harsch : 2019
Sous la peau

Three transgender teenagers, Soän, Effie Alexandra and Logan take the long path of physical transformation to finally arrive at their perceived gender identity, supported by parents and counsellors. They undergo radical physical changes caused by hormone therapy and surgery. This is the external metamorphosis that finally brings their appearance into line with their long-felt gender identity. Behind them lie desperate years in which they had to struggle not only with themselves but also with their family and school environments. This continuous experience of rejection and harassment has made them vulnerable. They long for the day when they don't have to explain themselves all the time. Robin Harsch's documentary premiered in the Next Masters Competition at DOK Leipzig 2019.

Thomas Imbach : 2018

Lena is an intelligent and very pretty 16-year-old. She lives with her older brother Noah and her parents in an old house in Oerlikon, Northern Zürich. Noah, a likeable young man of 19, has just successfully completed his baccalaureate and is eager to get on with his life but Lena does not want to let him go. When the family sees Noah off at the airport – he is going to İzmir as an archaeological intern – Lena is practically heartbroken. The love Lena feels for Noah is more than sisterly love – and is a love so intense that it is experienced as a form of madness. She tries to cope, but plagued by her dreams, the nights become a constant conflict with forbidden feelings, so much so that she decides to stop sleeping. To distract herself, she encourages Noah's friend Enis. But she is so obsessed with her brother that she cannot curb her feelings. Lena starts daydreaming, living more in a fantasy world than in real life. When she finally brings herself to confess to Noah, he is shocked and repels her. Lena then embarks on a journey into the unknown. Thomas Imbach's feature premiered in competition in the Concorso internazionale section at Locarno Film Festival 2018.

Bettina Oberli : 2018
With the Wind

A farm in the Jura mountains, far away from the nearest village. This is where Pauline and Alex's dream of a self-sufficient life in harmony with nature has come true. Their love, ideals and work unite them. Now the couple wishes to become totally independent by producing their own power. The pragmatic and easy-going engineer Samuel visits them to oversee the construction of a wind turbine. Pauline feels immediately attracted to him and suddenly becomes aware of how limited her life has been. Her feelings for Samuel are as intense as a storm, throwing her into confusion about her love life and view of the world. Above all she will realise the need to express her personality without following the path taken by others. Bettina Oberli's feature was winner of the Variety Piazza Grande Award when it premiered at Locarno Film Festival 2018.

Germinal Roaux : 2018

Fortuna, a 14-year-old Ethiopian girl, has had no news of her parents since the traumatic crossing of the Mediterranean and her arrival in Lampedusa, Italy. As she's welcomed into Switzerland with other refugees, she has to spend the winter with a Catholic community in a hospice located at the heart of a snow-covered massif, at an altitude of over 2000 metres. Whilst waiting for her residency status to be resolved by the Swiss authorities, Fortuna meets Kabir, a 26-year-old African refugee. Lonely and filled with longing to be comforted, she falls madly in love. Their relationship develops in secret, away from prying eyes, until the day Kabir disappears. Germinal Roaux's feature premiered in the Generation 14plus section at Berlin International Film Festival 2018.

Haifaa al-Mansour : 2018

Sixteen-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin is a thoughtful young woman with a passion for writing and who is drawn to ghost stories. When she meets radical and charismatic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, she is convinced she has met her soulmate. So begins a torrid, bohemian love affair marked by both passion and personal tragedy. At first she relishes life amongst the radical Romantics, but as time goes on, Percy's betrayals and indiscretions begin to test their relationship. One day, on a trip to Lord Byron's mansion in Geneva, Mary is challenged to write a ghost story. Drawing on her experiences of heartbreak and the dark side of humanity, she creates 'Frankenstein', her Gothic masterwork that will shape the literary world for centuries. Imbued with the imaginative spirit of its heroine, the film brings to life the world of a trailblazing woman who defied convention and channelled her innermost demons into a legend for the ages. Haifaa al-Mansour's period drama, her second feature, premiered at Toronto International Film Festival 2017, and had its UK premiere at Edinburgh International Film Festival 2018.

Tobias Nölle : 2016

A lonely private investigator is contacted by a mysterious woman who pulls him into a mind game known as 'telephone walking'. Fascinated by her voice, Aloys discovers an imaginary universe that allows him to break out of his isolation. 'We'll be in touch.' Aloys Adorn always speaks of himself in the first person plural. His unhealthily close personal and professional symbiosis with his father has made this taciturn, lone wolf of a private detective the man he is. In spite of his father's very recent death, the son sees fit to carry on as before, secretly observing and staying invisible. 'To film other people is my job', he says. 'To watch the films again is my hobby.' But a painful memory distracts Aloys from his ritualised daily routine of filming, watching the material and ordering 'one portion of rice to go' at the local Chinese, and he is discovered during his surveillance. Bewildered, he gets drunk, falls asleep on a bus and wakes up to discover that his camera and tapes have been stolen. The mysterious woman who calls him shortly afterwards seems to have something to do with this. Or does she simply want to break into his private world? Tobias Nölle's feature debut premiered in the Panorama section at Berlin International Film Festival 2016.

Nicole Garcia : 2016
From the Land of the Moon

Gabrielle comes from a small village in the South of France, at a time when her dream of true love is considered scandalous, and even a sign of insanity. Her parents marry her to José, an honest and loving Spanish farm worker who they think will make a respectable woman of her. Despite José's devotion to her, Gabrielle vows that she will never love José and lives like a prisoner bound by the constraints of conventional post-World War II society until the day she is sent away to a cure in the Alps to heal her kidney stones. There she meets André Sauvage, a dashing injured veteran of the Indochinese War, who rekindles the passion buried inside her. She promises they will run away together, and André seems to share her desire. Will anyone dare rob her of her right to follow her dreams? Nicole Garcia's feature premiered in competition at Festival de Cannes 2016.

Susanne Bier : 2016

In Cairo at the height of the Arab Spring, hotel night manager Jonathan Pine receives a plea for help from the beautiful Sophie Alekan. As the mistress of the powerful but dangerous hotel owner, Sophie has evidence of an arms deal that could help crush the popular uprising. Compelled to do what he thinks is right, Pine makes contact with his friend at the British Embassy. But his actions unwittingly draw him into the terrifying world of ruthless arms dealer, Richard Roper. When Sophie's information makes its way to Angela Burr, a government anti-corruption agent intent on bringing down Roper's empire, a leak in her network triggers a chain of events that could end in tragedy. A TV mini-series adapted from the novel by John le Carré.

Caterina Mona : 2015

Davide, Carla and Giulia were three. Davide, Carla and Max are three. But their peace of mind is unravelled by the news of two girls found after being kept prisoner for years in a cellar. The information reopens a wound for Carla and gives Davide new hope. What happened on that day, ten years ago, that changed the couple's lives forever? Caterina Mona's short premiered in competition in the Pardi di domani section at Locarno Film Festival 2015.

Hugo Bousquet : 2015
Beyond Here

A young couple have been trekking for three months in a desolate mountainous region when they chance upon an abandoned house containing supplies of food and drink. Having only planned a short break there, Basile wants to continue his visionary quest to find Tolkien's secret city of Gondolin, but Léa settles into the comfortable surroundings and insists on staying awhile. The days pass in pleasant inactivity, nevertheless, Basile, restless and haunted by nightmares, fearfully looks on as snow starts to fall on the mountain pass they will have to negotiate. One day a weather-beaten man turns up at the house, a hunter clearly used to walking in these severe conditions, but he speaks an unfamiliar language. A psychological drama compressed by time and space. Hugo Bousquet's feature debut premiered in competition at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2015.

Stina Werenfels : 2015
Dora oder Die sexuellen Neurosen unserer Eltern

At the age of eighteen, Dora is just beginning to blossom. Her mother Kristin has recently decided that Dora's psychotherapeutic medications are no longer necessary. As the mentally challenged young woman rushes headlong into life, a man takes a liking to her. Soon, the two become sexually involved, he obviously taken with her unrestrained sensuality. Seeing the relationship as unscrupulous and abusive, her parents demand their daughter stops seeing her lover. But their efforts are to no avail and when Dora's affair leads to a more serious situation, everyone has to reassess the limits of their relationship to each other, and reconsider such topics as self-determination, trust and jealousy. Examining the responsibilities of parents as they try to protect their vulnerable child, the film questions the right to sexuality and freedom-of-self of individuals with mental disabilities. Stina Werenfels's third feature premiered at Solothurn Film Festival 2015, and had its international premiere in the Panorama section at Berlin International Film Festival 2015.

Samanou Acheche Sahlstrøm : 2015
In Your Arms

When Maria meets Niels for the first time, he comes across as an angry and unsympathetic young man. Maria is a young and caring nurse who wants to break free. Niels is an incurable patient who wants to travel to Switzerland for euthanasia. But in order to get there, he needs a volunteer escort. Maria doesn't sympathise with Niels's wish, on the contrary, but in him she finds something that she has been missing from her life. Together they embark on an intense journey that will bring them closer to each other but also closer to their dreams. Samanou Acheche Sahlstrøm's feature debut was winner of the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film and the FIPRESCI Award when it premiered in competition at Göteborg International Film Festival 2015.

Gabriela Christen : 2014
Life Returned

Chiara, 30 and fairly reserved, works as an editor. After a night of heavy drinking at an office party, her car crashes in a tunnel. When she awakens at home with a plaster on her temple, she has no recollection of the events. In order to be able to reconstruct the happenings, she begs the police officer present at the scene of the accident to tell her what happened. Gabriela Christen's short premiered at Solothurn Film Festival 2015.

Karim Patwa : 2015

Twenty-two-year-old Robert, a former driver in illegal races, returns to his hometown Dietikon wanting to start a new life. His addiction to the thrill of speed led him to prison. Having served his sentence, he is determined to put his past behind him and starts an apprenticeship in a repair shop. All goes well until he meets Alice. Robert and the English teacher older than him feel attracted to each other, they are connected by the strong bond of a dark past. To stay with her, Robert is taking English classes. Yet as the relationship gains in intensity, former guilt feelings resurface and Robert's life starts to unravel. Karim Patwa's feature debut premiered at Solothurn Film Festival 2015.

Jenna Hasse : 2014
In August

It is August, early in the morning. Six-year-old Margaux wakes up. She goes to the window and sees her father putting objects and boxes into his car. Her mother is still sleeping. A story about the final moments between a father and his daughter before he leaves their home – for good, as it seems. Although very young, children like little Margaux can ask very mature and "grown-up" questions and the film tackles the contradictions of Margaux's childish nature and her awareness of the serious nature of the situation she is in. She can smell changes in this August morning – a morning which promises to be a singular and significant moment for the little girl. Margaux will never again be a child in the same way. Jenna Hasse's debut short film premiered at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at Festival de Cannes 2014, and screened at Zagreb Film Festival 2014.

Simon Jaquemet : 2014
War

Fifteen-year-old Matteo is attractive, albeit somewhat girlish and frail. The whole world is against him. At least that's how it seems to him. He has no friends, his parents appear to live on another planet, and his awkward attempts at gaining the respect of his father continually fall flat. One night, Matteo is led away by two men and taken to an isolated alp, where he is to spend the summer working hard in the fields on a family farm. But Matteo gets a surprise whilst up in the mountains. After overpowering their supervisor, the rebellious youths Anton, Dion and Ali take over control and lock the newcomer in a dog pound. Over time, the tortured and humiliated Matteo proves his courage, and is finally accepted by the truculent gang. Together, the youths wage a war – against adults, against society, against everyone and everything. An intense, atmospherically dense coming-of-age drama that burrows deep under the skin. Simon Jaquemet's feature debut premiered at San Sebastián International Film Festival 2014.

Eugène Green : 2014
The Sapience

At 50, Swiss architect Alexandre Schmidt has had a brilliant career, but is starting to have doubts about the meaning of his work. For her part, his wife Aliénor has similar issues about her own profession as a behavioural specialist with the under-privileged. Yet a wall of silence exists between the two of them. Wanting to pursue a long-cherished desire to write about Francesco Borromini, the Baroque architect, Alexandre decides to go to Ticino then Rome and Aliénor chooses to accompany him. In Stresa, where they plan to spend a few days, the couple meets two adolescents, a brother and sister named Goffredo and Lavinia. The boy is about to begin studying architecture, and the girl is suffering from a strange nervous illness. Aliénor decides to stay to look after the girl and offers to pay for the boy to take a research trip, which means that Alexandre is obliged to take him with him to Rome. Eugène Green's feature premiered in competition at Locarno Film Festival 2014.

Olivier Assayas : 2014
Clouds of Sils Maria

At the peak of her international career, Maria Enders is asked to perform in a revival of the play that made her famous twenty years ago. But back then she played the role of Sigrid, an alluring young girl who disarms and eventually drives her boss Helena to suicide. Now she is being asked to step into the other role, that of the older Helena. She departs with her assistant, Valentine, to rehearse in Sils Maria; a remote region of the Alps. Jo-Ann Ellis, a young Hollywood starlet with a penchant for scandal is to take on the role of Sigrid, and Maria finds herself on the other side of the mirror, face to face with an ambiguously charming woman who is, in essence, an unsettling reflection of herself. Is she ready to face doubts, questions and uncertainties associated with the more mature age and which she had hitherto rejected? The film premiered in competition at Festival de Cannes 2014.

Fredi M Murer : 1985
Alpine Fire

On a remote Swiss mountainside, a family live almost entirely disconnected from the modern world. An implacable, untamed environment of austere beauty, yet one which can also be constrictive and claustrophobic. The older couple have two children, a daughter Belli, who aspires to become a teacher, and a younger son Franzi, a child-like deaf-mute who helps his father on the farm. Belli, a loving elder sister, is the only one who understands the boy. She teaches her brother to read and write, and comforts him when he's angry. But Franzi's inability to communicate leads him to often violent frustration in his work. When he wrecks an expensive mower in a fit of anger, he is banished to the outskirts of the farm. In the deserted cabin which Franzi now occupies, Belli visits and brings him food. Alone together, the emotional and physical closeness they share is intensified and before long they become lovers. By winter, the boy is back in the house and Belli is pregnant. Soon she must confront her parents. This tragic and hauntingly beautiful film won the Golden Leopard at Locarno Film Festival 1985.

Le conseguenze dell'amore
a film by Paolo Sorrentino

Titta di Girolamo is a 50-year-old loner from southern Italy who has lived for eight years in an anonymous Swiss hotel. He spends his days in the lobby of the hotel, impassively observing the guests and staff with cool detachment. He seems to be a man without identity and with little to do. A nullifying routine, he is constantly waiting for something to happen, but what is Titta's dark secret? And what is the story of the mysterious suitcases delivered to his door? He once lost money owned by the Mafia on the stock market and has been punished in a gruesome way – he is to deliver the Mafia's money to the bank once a week and is allowed no life for himself.

Elegantly dressed, he sits each day in the hotel lobby, smoking cigarettes with impeccable poise. He observes the hotel guests and especially the beautiful bartender, Sofia, but never acknowledges her attempts to be friendly. At night, he plays cards with the former hotel owners who lost the hotel to gambling, before he gets ready for another night without sleep. His detachment from the world is complete, until he begins to communicate with Sofia. At this point his neatly organised life turns upside down and the terrible truth about Titta's concealed world begins to unravel.

An unusual, gripping and tightly plotted psychological thriller – the personal journey of a middle-aged man eternally trapped in an enforced existence. With masterly restrained performances, the unfolding story is stylishly executed as the characters' inner selves are gradually revealed to us. A wonderfully slow-paced film with very sophisticated and innovative cinematography, elegant editing, and a highly atmospheric use of music.