Swiss films make an impact against the odds

Beat Schlatter in "Komiker", a Swiss film which impressed international critics in Locarno. Film Festival Locarno

The international film festival in Locarno brought to light a rich variety of Swiss films. Yet while the quality of film-making is generally good, the same cannot be said for the state of the industry as a whole.

As usual, the festival brought together not only Swiss film-makers but also representatives of over 20 professional associations which are active in the national film industry, and politicians and civil servants who decide on subsidies.

When it began on August 2, the mood on the Swiss film scene was gloomy.

Only a month earlier, the federal office for culture had announced that its annual SFr9 million budget set aside for the direct financing of film projects had run dry by mid-year. The head of the office’s film section, Marc Wehrlin, said that as a consequence, no further productions could be subsidised until the end of the year.

At the same time, interior minister Ruth Dreifuss overturned a (negative) recommendation by the office’s panel of experts on one particular film. Dreifuss decided that the project should go ahead nonetheless. Some film producers whose requests had been turned down protested, prompting others to leave the Swiss association of film producers.

Financial crises and angry conflicts are nothing new in Switzerland’s crowded film scene, but they have never threatened to dominate the Locarno festival – the nation’s window to international cinema – as much as they did this year.

The fact that no Swiss film was entered in the official competition for the first time in years seemed fitting, but as the festival programme unfolded, it was gratefully noted that Swiss film-making was alive and well.

Swiss film-makers were able to show 12 full-length feature films in Locarno. “Not a bad crop in comparison with other years”, says Philippe Clivaz, Swiss film correspondent in the festival’s programme commission.

Most of them had been shown in Swiss cinemas earlier this year, but almost all were exposed for the first time to an international audience of critics, distributors, cinema operators and festival organisers. Some, like Komiker” by Markus Imboden, received good reviews and can hope to be shown internationally.

However Swiss film-makers were at their best in the documentary and short film sections. “Do It”, a 97-minute film by Sabine Gisiger and Marcel Zwingli, traces the history of a small group of anarchists in Zurich in the early 1970s with a refreshing mixture of precise psychological analysis and sense of humour.

Another highlight was “Delphine Seyrig – portrait of a comet” by veteran film-maker Jacqueline Veuve. It tells the story of a French actress who became a star in the early 1960s with the cult film “L’Anéee dernière à Marienbad” by Alain Resnais, but subsequently turned down every film whose plot or makers she didn’t trust. Seyrig died 10 years ago, largely forgotten except by her friends, including the crème de la crème of French actors and actresses, some of whom are interviewed in the film with moving effect.

But the critical success of these films and others, including 18 short films in the “Young Leopards” section – a competition for the up-and-coming generation of film-makers – cannot hide the fact that the industry is in need of more financial means.

“It is easier to finance a documentary or short film when both are relatively cheap”, says Zurich-based producer Marcel Höhn, a member of the lobby group Cinésuisse. Höhn, who says he has to abandon every second project he embarks on, warns: “The way things are going we soon won’t have the means to produce fully fledged feature films.”

One critical aspect is that most productions nowadays are international co-productions. Because film subsidies were increased in other countries, but not in Switzerland, “we have come to be regarded as a very unattractive partner”, says Höhn.

Cinésuisse is at the forefront of a frequently quoted demand by the industry that the federal government increase its subsidy from SFr21 million to at least double that amount. Of the money handed out, just under half flows directly into productions.

A comparison is often drawn with Denmark, a country of a size comparable to Switzerland, but whose film industry is enjoying a lot of success internationally. The Danish government subsidises film-making to the tune of SFr80 million annually.

Dreifuss – as minister in charge – and officials in her federal office for culture repeated their intention at a reception in Locarno to double film subsidies as requested. However, the increase, which would be a welcome shot in the arm for Swiss film-making, has yet to pass through parliament, which will debate a revised law to promote the film industry in its autumn session.

by Markus Haefliger