Swiss filmmaker and critic Ulrike Koch dies aged 73
Koch at the Turin Festival of Cinema in 2004.
Keystone
The Swiss filmmaker and film critic Ulrike Koch has died at the age of 73. Koch was an expert on China and was known for her successful 1997 documentary film The Salt Men of Tibet, among other works.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Koch died March 30 in the Zurich region, following a serious illness, a nephew of the artist told the Keystone-SDA news agency on Friday.
On a list compiled by the Federal Office of Culture, containing over 53,000 entries, The Salt Men of Tibet ranks 92nd among the 500 most successful Swiss films between 1976 and 2023. The film was shown at various international festivals. In the documentary, Koch accompanied nomads in Tibet for three months and documented their ritual journey to the salt lakes in the Tibetan plateaus.
For the film, Koch worked with Swiss cameraman Pio Corradi, who died in 2019. Koch and Corradi also collaborated on the documentaries Ässhäk – Stories from the Sahara and Regilaul – Songs from the Air, she as director and he as cinematographer. Koch also served as casting director for the film The Last Emperor by Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci.
Koch was born in Germany in 1950, and studied sinology, Japanese studies, ethnology and philosophy in Zurich before continuing her studies in China. In addition to her work as a filmmaker, she wrote film reviews for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung and Weltwoche, among others. She also gave lectures on China, Tibet and Buddhism. She lived in Zollikon, near Zurich.
Adapted from German by DeepL/kc
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Living longer: What do you think about the longevity trend?
The longevity market is booming thanks in part to advances in the science of ageing. What do you think of the idea of significantly extending human lifespan?
This content was published on
On Saturday the Lake Geneva, Valais and Basel regions are expected to record the first tropical day of the year, with temperatures exceeding 30°C.
This content was published on
The Swiss economy saw the clouds that had gathered over its prospects lift somewhat in May. However, the KOF economic barometer is still below its long-term average.
Direct operations too dangerous in Swiss landslide valley
This content was published on
By Friday morning 365 people had been forced to leave their homes because of Wednesday's landslide in the Swiss village of Blatten.
Franco-Swiss raclette war set to be settled on Sunday
This content was published on
The battle for the world's largest raclette will be transformed on Sunday in Saint-Gingolph, canton Valais, into a raclette of friendship served at the border.
Flood risk threatens Swiss valley after ‘millennium event’ glacier collapse
This content was published on
Two days after a gigantic avalanche of ice, mud and debris buried much of the village of Blatten in canton Valais, the danger is not over.
Situation in Swiss landslide valley remains unstable
This content was published on
Authorities in Valais said on Thursday that it was still too dangerous to begin clear-up activities around the village of Blatten.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.