The Congress of Penguins

Von heute auf morgen

January 2013 •German

'From One Day To The Next' follows four elderly people through their everyday lives, observing how they cope with a gradual loss of autonomy.

Lucie et Maintenant

April 2007 •French

In May of 1982 Julio Cortázar, the Argentinean writer and his companion in life, Carol Dunlop set out in their VW bus on a journey along the highway from Paris to Marseille that, for each of them, was to be their final one. Twenty-five years later, Océane Madelaine and Jocelyn Bonnerave set out to undertake the journey again.

Into Great Silence

September 2005 •German

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.

Meerdolen

May 2006 •German

Ho und Überall

May 2011 •German

Life in Progress

March 2015 •English

Offshore: Elmer and the Swiss Bank Secrecy

January 2016 •German

While managers of Swiss banks in the USA ruefully apologize for their tax evasions practices and customer data is disclosed to the American authorities, Rudolf Elmer, former auditor at bank Julius Bär, is indicted for violating the Swiss banking secrecy law on the Cayman Islands. Rudolf Elmer: from insider to critic.

Hugo Koblet - The Charming Cyclist

September 2010 •German

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.

Exit: The Right to Die

October 2006 •French

Switzerland is presently the only country in the world where suicide assistance is legal. Exit: The Right to Die profiles that nation's EXIT organization, which for over twenty years has provided volunteers who counsel and accompany the terminally-ill and severely handicapped towards a death of their choice.

Iraqi Odyssey

September 2014 •English

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.

Mit dem Bauch durch die Wand

January 2011 •German

Women bring children into the world. But when, as in the case of Sandra, Jasmine and Jennifer, you're not yet eighteen and your belly is starting to round out, that's when people look at you sideways. And once the baby's here, life with a child is a far greater challenge than we ever imagined in our rosy teenage dreams. A long-term study of three very young mothers, their children and their fathers. A film about their first great love, their professional futures and their dreams for the future.

The Shelter

August 2014 •French

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.

Per l'amor di Dio

January 2013 •Italian

Synopsis - For god's sake Isabella and Nando are two militant atheists. They live in Italy, a country where the Church still plays a strong political role. T hey are among the 4000 members of UAAR (Union Atheists Agnostics Rationalists), an association that keenly defends the fundamentals of the secular state, giving trouble even to the Vatican. Among the various actions of the association: the campaign for the de-baptize and the "atheist bus", ads that should have spread the slogan: “The bad news is that God doesn't exist. The good one is that you don't need him”

The Knowledge of Healing

May 1997 •German

A documentary film about Tibetan traditional medicine.

Sounds and Silence - Travels with Manfred Eicher

November 2009 •German

On the way through a world of sounds and noise – with Manfred Eicher, the oustanding discoverer and mediator of contemporary music and founder of the music label ECM. On this journey we are meeting musicians and composers, but also people and places which are connected with him and with each other. We are encountering stories, landscapes, cities, disputes and hugs, tranquillity, hectic pace, work, self-doubt, joy, passion.

The Fortress

August 2008 •French

The personal stories of the people from all around the world waiting for a decision in an asylum-seekers centre in one of most restrictive countries in the world, Switzerland.

Dutti der Riese

September 2007 •German

Documentary about Swiss grocery store pioneer Gottlieb Duttweiler

GLOW

June 2023 •German

She was a muse, model and performer – a star, dazzling and intense. Lady Shiva managed to rise from street prostitution to the top. She lived in the fast lane and died tragically young. Her dream was to become a singer. With her companions, we trace her life during a vibrant time that kindles a yearning and provokes until today. The story of a woman’s meteoric fate and a great dream. An irrepressible desire for freedom in all its beauty and destructive force - and a stirring friendship and love.

La Terre Promise

June 2014 •French

Philippe Savoy head of the choir at Saint Michael's College in Fribourg is preparing to take his fifty-five students to Palestine for a series of concerts. From Bethlehem to Ramallah, passing by Jerusalem and Hebron, between check points and churches, discovering both refugee camps and historical tourism around the Dead Sea, the young musicians will discover an exploded territory, a country living in provisional peace with, in the background, the permanent humiliation of the Palestinian people.

Zwischenwelten - Unterschiedliche Wege des Heilens

April 2020 •German

A documentary about healers from the Swiss canton of Appenzell.