Archive | 5. SFFF | 2018

Hommage Alain Tanner

Having said his spirited farewell to filmmaking 14 years ago with PAUL S’EN VA, his name still resonates among French-speaking Swiss directors: Alain Tanner. Born in 1929, he spent his early years in the merchant navy, before working for the Swiss television. He gained international fame with the feature LA SALAMANDRE - the wonderfully chaotic triangle of self-assured jobber Rosemonde, journalist Pierre and writer Paul. In 1976 he directed JONAH WHO WILL BE 25 IN THE YEAR 2000:

between conformation and anarchy, eight people explore the suitability of the concepts of life that the 1968-generation have passed on to them. The tone of Tanner's films changed around this time; movies that sprang from one idea and relied on often grotesque humour gave way to poetic, melancholic and more intimate works. With a certain increasingly radical progression, his characters started to oscillate between wanting to belong and a quest of freedom. The Saas-Fee Filmfest dedicates a hommage to this great independent director by screening DANS LA VILLE BLANCHE (1983).

Curator Hommage Alain Tanner: Jan Schulz-Ojala
Freelance author and film critic. Until 2016 editor with Berlin newspaper "Tagesspiegel".