Program: Stories from Switzerland

THE SUN OF ST. MORITZ
* live piano accompaniment by pianist Cinizia Regensburger
dir. Hubert Moest, Friedrich Weissenberg
DE

The Sun of St. Moritz (Die Sonne von St.Moritz, 1923) is a German silent film inspired by Paul Oskar Höcker’s novel. It follows Hedda, an unhappy wife caught in a web of love, betrayal and scandal at a ski resort at the foot of the Alps. Cinematographer Anton Mülleneisen captures spectacular scenes of the snowy Engadin. The drama about passion and moral decline inspired a 1954 remake.

THE LINE
dir. Ursula Meier
CH, FR, BE, 102′

After a heated argument with her mother, 35-year-old Margaret is banned from coming within 100 meters of the family home. This perimeter, drawn by her sister, only intensifies her need for closeness, drawing her to the edge of the forbidden zone every day. Ursula Meier’s intense family drama is a compelling study exploring legal and emotional boundaries, also praised for its strong female characters.

BAGGER DRAMA
dir. Piet Baumgartner
CH, 94′

After the tragic death of their daughter, a Swiss working-class family that rents, sells and repairs excavators tries to reconnect with each other. The father finds solace in his work, the mother sinks into grief, while the son dreams of escaping to the US. Piet Baumgartner constructs a compelling story of the healing process, skilfully and subtly depicting the emotional complexities of the main characters.

ELECTRIC CHILD
dir. Simon Jaquemet
CH, DE, NL, PH, 118′

The joy at the arrival of their child fades when the doctor gives Sonny and Akika some serious news. Menawhile, Sonny is developing an artificial intelligence that could be the key to saving their son. As despair grows, so does the AI’s power, along with the threat it poses to all of humanity. The emotional sci-fi family drama Electric Child reveals what is at stake when it comes to artificial intelligence.

RIVERBOOM
dir. Claude Baechtold
CH, 95′

It is 2002 in Afghanistan, just after the American invasion. Three journalists – the moralist Serge, the upbeat photographer Paolo, and the film’s accidental director Claude – embark on a two-month journey. Recovering the footage that had been lost for two decades, this extraordinary documentary combines the tension of war with darkly humorous situations. Subversively employing rock and pop music, Claude Baechtold breaks the rules of war journalism.

QUEENS (REINAS)
dir. Klaudia Reynicke
CH PE, ES, 103′

As Peru is rocked by political crisis in 1992, Lucía and Aurora prepare to emigrate to the United States with their mother. In order to travel, they need their father’s consent. Their father Carlos, absent during their childhood, decides to fight to win back his two “queens”. Awarded the Grand Prix at the Berlinale, Queens is a powerful coming-of-age story about family responsibility and the search for redemption.