Press release 27.02.14
27th February 2014
Saas-Fee Filmfest Programme announced:
1. Saas-Fee Filmfest (SFFF): Five-Countries-Competition
with nine young, innovative films
In three weeks time the 1st edition of the Saas-Fee Filmfest will take place in the Valais sking resort. In a five-country-competition the two initiators and festival directors Stefan Fichtner and Gabriel Zurbriggen will show nine feature films of young filmmakers, several of them being debut works. The films from Switzerland and its neighbouring countries Austria, Germany France and Italy have free, personal cinematic approaches and embrace experimenting.
„The films in our competition explore new ways”, Programme Director Stefan Fichtner underlines, „some revive a forgotten piece of film history, in some their unconventional way of production leaves its traces in form and content. Reality and fiction often go parallel, imitating each other and make for surprising discoveries.
Festival Manager Gabriel Zurbriggen, who hails from the car-free tourist resort starts raving about Saas-Fee: „You can hardly imagine a place more apt than this village surrounded by an impressive mountain panorama, and with its venerable Cinema Rex that we will revive with our festival. The nine films in competition show the whole range of new young film making from Switzerland and its four neighbouring countries, in which the languages of Switzerland are spoken. From Germany comes the highly acclaimed FINSTERWORLD by Frauke Finsterwalder with a screenplay by Swiss writer Christian Kracht, with actors like Sandra Hüller, Corinna Harfouch, Margit Carstensen and Swiss Carla Juri. Also a German contribution, LOVE STEAKS by Jakob Lass is already decorated with the two most important German prizes for upcoming cinema in Munich and Saarbrücken.
From France comes the quirky experimental comedy LA FILLE DU 14 JUILLET by Antonin Peretjatko, who received a lot of attention at last year's Festival in Cannes, as well as the directorial debut LE SENS DE L‘ HUMOUR by Marilyne Canto, who is best known as actress in films by Claude Chabrol and who worked as assistant director to Philippe Garrel. In LE SENS DE L‘ HUMOUR she also plays one of the starring roles.
From Austria comes SOLDATE JEANNETTE by Daniel Hoesl, who worked as assistant director in Ulrich Seidl's Paradise-Trilogy. Italy is represented in competition with IL TERZO TEMPO by Enrico Maria Artale as well as with LA MAFIA UCCIDE SOLO D‘ESTATE by Pierfrancesco Diliberto. Diliberto, best know as Pif, plays in his directorial debut also one of the starring roles.
Host country Switzerland after all shows SITTING NEXT TO ZOE by Sarajevo-born Ivana Lalovic with actors like Runa Greiner, Bettina Stucky and Roeland Wiesnekker, as well as TEMPO GIRL by Valaisian Dominik Locher, which was mainly shot close to Saas-Fee, starring Florentine Krafft, José Barros, Anatole Taubman and Gilles Tschudi. After his studies at the Zurich Academy of Art, Locher now studies at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles.
An International Jury of filmmakers and an International Critics Jury will each deliver a Best Film verdict. The two juries will be announced on a later occasion.
The festival will open Wednesday evening with an out-of-competition-screening of the highly acclaimed VIVA LA LIBERTA by Roberto Andò from Italy, starring Toni Servillo and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi. Andò, who was born in 1959 in Palermo, has become well known as writer, screenplay writer, theatre director and filmmaker. He was assistant to master directors like Francesco Rosi, Federico Fellini, Michael Cimino and Francis Ford Coppola. In 1995 he made his first feature film DIARIO SENZA DATE with Bruno Ganz.
The screening of the documentary THE ALPS – OUR MOUNTAINS FROM ABOVE, which gives in many ways impulses to think about the implications of the transformational processes the Alps are exposed to, will be accompanied by a panel discussion. Panel guests are Benedikt Schnyder (Glacialist), Tobias Zurbriggen (local councillor and alpinist) and a representative of an organisation committed to preserving the Alps.
The advance sale is now open online on www.sfff.ch and at the Tourism Organisation Saas-Fee/Saastal. Besides single tickets and festival passes, also 3-day-packages (from Swiss Francs 420) and 5-day-packages (from Swiss Francs 767) of festival passes, ski passes and hotel accommodation will be on offer (http://web.deskline.net/saasfeepackage/de/list_package).
Festival maker Stefan Fichtner from Berlin, who is the SFFF's Artistic Director, and actor Gabriel Zurbriggen from Saas-Fee, who is in charge of Festival Management, want to set a clear sign with this new festival, which addresses tourists and film fans as well as locals. Numerous filmmakers and actors have already confirmed their coming to Saas-Fee, which was named „Best Swiss Ski Resort” in 2012. Festival visitors will have the opportunity to ski or hike during the day, as the film programme starts at 5pm only.