Happy birthday Switzerland!
Happy birthday to Switzerland (August 1), which not only produces excellent films of its own but is an important coproduction partner for countries around the world. Also, home to the illustrious Locarno Film Festival which begins next week… This week, we present a selection of recent Swiss films and coproductions.
De Humani Corporis Fabrica
(De humani corporis fabrica)
The film takes viewers inside the human body during surgeries and autopsies performed in Paris.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Switzerland • 2023
- Director Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Véréna Paravel
- Cast
- Genre Documentary
- Available on MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Amazon Video
Azor
A private banker travels to Argentina in the midst of a dictatorship to search for his missing partner
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Argentina, Switzerland, France • 2021
- Director Andreas Fontana
- Cast Fabrizio Rongione, Stéphanie Cléau, Elli Medeiros, Juan Pablo Geretto, Alexandre Trocki, Yvain Juillard
- Genre Drama
- Available on MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video
Hive
(Zgjoi)
Fahrije’s husband has been missing since the war in Kosovo: does she wait for his return, or move forward on her own?
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Kosovo, Switzerland, Albania • 2021
- Director Blerta Basholli
- Cast Yllka Gashi, Çun Lajçi, Aurita Agushi, Kumrije Hoxha, Adriana Matoshi, Molike Maxhuni
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel, Kino Film Collection, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy, Hoopla
Olga
A Ukrainian gymnast living in Switzerland finds her life changing with the 2013 protests in her home country.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Switzerland, Ukraine • 2021
- Director Elie Grappe
- Cast Thea Brogli, Nastya Budiashkina, Sabrina Rubtsova, Caterina Barloggio, Tanya Mikhina
- Genre Drama
- Available on Kino Film Collection, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy, Hoopla
My Little Sister
(Schwesterlein)
The bond of twin siblings is tested by a diagnosis of leukemia in this poignant Swiss drama.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland, Germany • 2020
- Director Stéphanie Chuat
- Cast Nina Hoss, Lars Eidinger, Marthe Keller, Jens Albinus, Thomas Ostermeier
- Genre
- Available on Film Movement Plus, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy, Hoopla
At Eternity's Gate
The story of Vincent van Gogh's artistic genius — and the misunderstanding public.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland, Ireland, United Kingdom • 2018
- Director Julian Schnabel
- Cast Willem Dafoe, Rupert Friend, Oscar Isaac, Mads Mikkelsen, Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner
- Genre Drama
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, AMC on Demand, Tubi TV, Freevee, Hoopla
Happy as Lazzaro
(Lazzaro felice)
A pure-hearted sharecropper Lazzaro forms an unlikely friendship that will change his world.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, Switzerland, France • 2018
- Director Alice Rohrwacher
- Cast Adriano Tardiolo, Agnese Graziani, Luca Chikovani, Alba Rohrwacher, Sergi López, Tommaso Ragno
- Genre Drama
- Available on Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads
Foxtrot
(פוֹקְסטְרוֹט)
After Michael and Daphna receive terrible news about their soldier son, they experience one of life's unfathomable twists.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Israel, Switzerland, Germany • 2017
- Director Samuel Maoz
- Cast Lior Ashkenazi, Sarah Adler, Yonaton Shiray, Shira Haas, Yehuda Almagor, Karin Ugowski
- Genre Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Fandango At Home
I Am Not Your Negro
A study of race in America then and now, inspired by James Baldwin's unpublished writings.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland, France, Belgium • 2017
- Director Raoul Peck
- Cast Samuel L. Jackson, James Baldwin, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, Ray Charles
- Genre Documentary, History
- Available on Hulu, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, FlixFling, Kanopy, Hoopla
The Guardians
(Les Gardiennes)
While the men go off to war, the women of the Paridier farm take charge.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Switzerland • 2017
- Director Xavier Beauvois
- Cast Nathalie Baye, Laura Smet, Iris Bry, Cyril Descours, Olivier Rabourdin, Gilbert Bonneau
- Genre Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, Tubi TV, VUDU Free, Freevee, Kanopy, Hoopla, Plex, Plex Channel
My Life as a Zucchini
(Ma vie de courgette)
A stop-motion tale of loss, friendship, and young love.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland, France • 2016
- Director Claude Barras
- Cast Gaspard Schlatter, Sixtine Murat, Paulin Jaccoud, Michel Vuillermoz, Raul Ribera
- Genre Animation, Drama, Family
- Available on Criterion Channel
Winter Nomads
(Hiver Nomade)
Two shepherds in Switzerland move 800 sheep 600km over four months with the help of three donkeys and four dogs.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland, France, Germany • 2012
- Director Manuel von Stürler
- Cast Pascal Eguisier, Carole Noblanc, Jean-Paul Peguiron
- Genre Documentary
- Available on OVID