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Villi Hermann given Swiss Film Honorary Award

Award of honour goes to Swiss filmmaker Villi Hermann
Award of honour goes to Swiss filmmaker Villi Hermann Keystone-SDA

The director, screenwriter and producer Villi Hermann has been awarded this year's Swiss Film Honorary Award. Hermann has had a significant influence on Swiss film for 50 years, according to the Federal Office of Culture.

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The award honours the work of an important filmmaker who has helped define the identity of Italian-language Swiss film, the Federal Office of Culture announced on Tuesday. His film work is characterised by courage, social commitment and artistic finesse.

Villi Hermann’s career as a filmmaker began in the 1970s. His films were shown at international film festivals in Cannes, Venice and the Berlinale in the 1970s and 1980s. Hermann was awarded the Silver Leopard in Locarno for his first feature film, San Gottardo.

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In 1981 he founded his own production company, Imagofilm Lugano, which increasingly supports film productions by up-and-coming filmmakers from Ticino. Hermann thus made a decisive contribution to the emergence of a “new wave” of Italian-language film, the Federal Office of Culture wrote.

The award ceremony for Hermann will take place on Friday at the Zurich Congress Centre as part of the Swiss Film Awards ceremony.

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