Hugo Koblet - The Charming Cyclist

Zurich-born Hugo Koblet was the first international cycling star of the post-war period. He was a stylist on the bicycle and in life, and a huge heartthrob. Koblet had a meteoric rise and won the Giro d'Italia in 1950. Once he had reached the zenith of his career, Koblet was put under pressure by overly ambitious officials and ended up ruining his health with drugs. In 1954, he married a well-known model and they became a celebrity dream couple. After his athletic career ended, Koblet began to lose his footing. Threatened by bankruptcy, he crashed his Alfa into a tree.

Shake the Devil Off

Bis ans Ende der Träume

Both aspire to remain true to themselves and to build their lives freely. This bold vision in the 1950s is that of Katharina von Arx and Freddy Drilhon, when they meet during a trip to Polynesia. A passionate love unites them; she becomes famous as a reporter and illustrator, and he as a photographer. When the couple settled with their daughter in Romainmôtier to turn the ruined priory into their new home, their relationship was put to the test. While Katharina put all her energy into restoring the impressive building, Freddy began to feel depressed in this remote village in the canton of Vaud. A serious crisis erupted between the two and they broke up. Freddy left Katharina to start a new life on the south coast of England—but the love that united them did not fade.

Mirr

Journal de Rivesaltes 1941-42

Scissere

A recently released mental patient imagines himself living the lives of three different people he randomly encounters.

Debra Milke

Ina, Amer & Elvis

Josh's Trees

SeelenSchatten

Two women and a man suffering from severe depression are accompanied by a camera for a year and a half. The acute phase of their depression is the starting point for this filmed account. How do they cope with their illness and their stay in hospital? How does their professional and family situation evolve after this major crisis? When do they feel cured again?

The Paris Opera

A behind-the-scenes look at the of how the Paris Opera is run under the direction of Stephane Lissner.

Iraqi Odyssey

Tracing the emigrations of his family over more than half a century, this riveting documentary epic from acclaimed expatriate Iraqi filmmaker Samir pays moving homage to the frustrated democratic dreams of a people successively plagued by the horrors of dictatorship, war and foreign occupation of Iraq.

Into Great Silence

An intimate portrayal of the everyday lives of Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse, high in the French Alps (Chartreuse Mountains). The idea for the film was proposed to the monks in 1984, but the Carthusians said they wanted time to think about it. The Carthusians finally contacted Gröning 16 years later to say they were now willing to permit Gröning to shoot the movie, if he was still interested.

I Am Mariam Binladen

Miriam Goldschmidt – Creator of the In-between

Nearing the end of a long and successful stage career, Miriam Goldschmidt finds her prowess as an actress increasingly on the wane. She struggles to memorize her lines and as her last project with lifelong collaborator, the legendary director Peter Brook, threatens to fall apart, Miriam looks back. Referencing Brook’s ground-breaking book «The Empty Space», she uses an empty rehearsal room in Berlin to invoke her archetypal life journey that took an orphaned black child from post-war Germany to the world’s biggest stages. We «Call Her Miriam» is a bewitching and moving portrait of a great artist living between dream and reality, truth and fction and life and death.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, tout dire

Magic Radio

The Shelter

It is winter at an emergency shelter for the homeless in Lausanne. Every night at the door of this little-known basement facility the same entry ritual takes place, resulting in confrontations which can sometimes turn violent. Those on duty at the shelter have the difficult task of “triaging the poor”: the women and children first, then the men. Although the total capacity at the shelter is 100, only 50 “chosen ones” will be admitted inside and granted a warm meal and a bed. The others know it will be a long night.

Wer sind wir?

How do you cope if things turn out differently than you'd imagined? Helena (19) and Jonas (11) are people in great need of support, putting their parents, families, schools and society to the test. The film breaks down the wall that separates them from our world, shows how language and community develop - and asks the question of who we are.

Toumast - Entre Guitare et Kalashnikov

In 1996, Kalashnikovs were publicly burnt in Timbuktu. At the time, the "Flame of Peace" symbolized the end of the Touareg rebellion, which had been suppressed in bloody massacres. That year, the rebels laid down their arms. That year, with the government having made promises, the families who had fled abroad left Mauritania, Algeria and Burkina Faso to return home. In the fight for rights and survival waged by this people, who for centuries had found their freedom in one of the world's most inhospitable regions, the Sahara, culture and arms have been in direct competition ever since.