Mediterranean Fever

09JunMonday July 8th, 2024 By First Hand Films

Waleed (40) lives in Haifa with his wife and children and dreams of a writing career while suffering from chronic depression. He develops a close relationship with his neighbor (a small-time crook) with an ulterior plot in mind. While the scheme turns into an unexpected friendship between the two men, it leads them into a journey of dark encounters.

In this humorous thriller-drama, Maha Haj draws a delicate portrait of the Palestinian existence. She takes the fictional character Waleed to extremes and thus reflects on the state of an entire society.

Press review
A delicate balance between comedy and darker drama throughout.
The Hollywood Reporter

A mixture of comedy, thriller and character study.
In Haifa, an unlikely friendship between two neighbours is the basis of a new exploration of masculinity and mental illness.
Screendaily

A black comedy full of surprises.
Cineuropa

A E I O U – A Quick Alphabet of Love

02JunWednesday July 10th, 2024 By First Hand Films

She thought it would never happen to her again.
He didn’t even know such a thing existed.
A woman, a boy and another impossible love story.

Anna (Sophie Rois) is 60, lives alone in West Berlin and has left her career as a celebrated acting star long behind her. Adrian (Milan Herms) is 17 years old and has stolen Anna’s handbag on the open street. Normally, two such different people would probably not meet a second time, but fate has other plans. Anna, who apart from her neighbour Michel (Udo Kier) has virtually no social contacts, is persuaded to become a voice coach and give lessons to a young man with a speech impediment. And as chances would have it, her new student is none other than Adrian.

In AEIOU, Nicolette Krebitz designs a relationship that not only surprises with a lot of tenderness and a wild, poetic hand stroke, but also turns both characters into individuals of integrity, self-empowered with each other, learning. Neither feels guilt, neither feels shame, both feel love and yet remain completely with themselves, lonely together, but not in the discouragement usually inherent in that phrase. On the contrary, it is a wild, unpredictable courage that stands above everything and leads the character development. Axel Timo Purr, Artechock

Becoming Giulia

13MayThursday December 12th, 2024 By First Hand Films

Giulia Tonelli, principal dancer at the Zurich Opera House, returns from maternity leave. She has to fight to find her place and a new balance, between the competitive and extremely demanding world of an elite ballet company and her new family life. The documentary is an unprecedented immersion in the microcosm of a great opera house from 2019-2021, an intimate and committed look at the journey of a woman who reclaims her own body and herself to be back on stage.

Indes Galantes

17JanFriday July 28th, 2023 By First Hand Films

Can a new generation of artists conquer the Bastille today? For the very first time, 30 dancers reinvent Rameau’s baroque masterpiece “Les Indes Galantes”. None of them has a classical training, they are all masters of krump, break, popping and voguing. It is a premiere for director Clément Cogitore and choreographer Bintou Dembélé. And it’s a premiere for the Paris Opera itself, bringing urban dance and lyrical song together in a lively, colourful dialogue. From rehearsals to the premiere, we follow the dancing adventure and its challenges.

INDES GALANTES is a vibrant film, artistic, human and politically gripping. The film tells the collective dimension of this inspiring project, while the camera gives the individual protagonists space to express their feelings and shows how they put their heart and soul into this work. In INDES GALANTES we can see how they overcome the barriers between these different worlds. And we learn through them how we can all admire each other.

Les nouvelles Èves – Heldinnen des Alltags

04AugMonday December 19th, 2022 By First Hand Films

Sorry, this entry is only available in DE, FR and IT.

2021: Die Schweiz feiert 50 Jahre Frauenstimmrecht. Wie sieht die Alltagsrealität der Frauen in der Schweiz heute aus? Ein Kollektiv aus preisgekrönten Regisseurinnen, Produzentinnen und Kamerafrauen widmen sich dieser Frage, indem sie sechs Protagonistinnen in ihrem Alltag begleiten.

Die pensionierte Valeria Kepner in Lugano (64) haushaltet mit ihrer knappen Pension und verliebt sich neu. Die Baslerin Naima Cuica (44), ursprünglich aus Venezuela, kämpft sich von der Kantinenmitarbeiterin zur Pflegefachfrau hoch. Sophie Swaton (42), Professorin in Lausanne, jongliert ihre Karriere und die Erziehung ihrer drei Kinder. Die Opernsängerin Sela Bieri in Zürich wird in ihrer Berufswelt mit stereotypen Genderrollen konfrontiert, während ihr Partner zu Hause den Haushalt der 4-köpfigen Familie führt. Delphine Rozmuski (18), Studentin in Genf, spürt ihrer Geschlechtsidentität nach und Cosima Scheck (9) aus Bolligen begegnen in ihrem kindlichen Alltag stereotype Bilder, die sie hinterfragt. Wir sehen ihre Kämpfe, ihre Träume und erleben wie die Portraitierten, die sich aktiv gegen Rollenzuschreibungen wehren, über Hindernisse stolpern und trotzdem immer wieder aufstehen.

Getragen vom Echo des Frauenstreiks 2019, sind sie LES NOUVELLES ÈVES, die Heldinnen des Alltags, welche die immer noch aktuellen Geschlechterungleichheiten in der Schweiz herausfordern.

Ein grosses Dankeschön an:
migros kulturprozent
migros magazin

My Sunny Maad

03AugFriday July 28th, 2023 By First Hand Films

When Herra, a young Czech woman, falls in love with Nazir, an Afghan, she has no idea what kind of life awaits her in post-Taliban Afghanistan, nor of the family she is about to integrate into. A liberal grandfather, an adopted child who is highly intelligent and Freshta, who would do anything to escape her husband’s violent grip.

Deux

12MarTuesday July 5th, 2022 By First Hand Films

Nina and Madeleine, have lived next door to each other on the top floor for decades. Everyone, including Madeleine’s family, thinks they are simply neighbours. They come and go between their two flats, enjoying and sharing pleasures of daily life together, until an unforeseen event turns their relationship upside down. This event leads Madeleine’s daughter to gradually reveal the truth about the two friends.

« moving tribute to love’s ability » Variety

Interview Philippo Meneghetti CNC

DE LA CUISINE AU PARLEMENT – EDITION 2021

11SepTuesday May 5th, 2026 By First Hand Films

Sorry, this entry is only available in DE, FR and IT.

Der Weg VON DER KÜCHE INS PARLAMENT war für die Schweizer Frauen steinig und lang – vier Generationen mussten dafür kämpfen, dass das männliche Stimmvolk den Frauen das Recht auf politische Mitbestimmung gewährte. Mit Feingefühl und Humor zeichnet Stéphane Goëls Dokumentarfilm DE LA CUISINE AU PARLEMENT – EDITION 2021 diesen Weg nach.

Politikerinnen, Aktivistinnen und Expertinnen wie Elisabeth Kopp, Ruth Dreifuss, Tamara Funiciello, Marina Carobbio, Amélie Christinat, Marthe Gosteli, Gabrielle Nanchen, Patricia Schulz, Brigitte Studer und Simone Chapuis-Bischof beschreiben ihren Kampf für die egalitäre Sache. Im reichen Archivmaterial, in dem auch gewöhnliche Bürger*innen zu Wort kommen, spiegelt sich der Mentalitätswandel während eines Jahrhunderts.

Der Jubiläums-Kinofilm im Namen der Gleichberechtigung – ein vergnügter und tiefer Einblick im Kampf ums Frauenstimmrecht.

Offizielle Promotionspartner*innen
nateil14giugno | Associazione Cultura Popolare | FAFTplus | Coordinamento donne della sinistra | Commissione consultiva per le pari opportunità | Amnesty International Switzerland | GISO Ticino | Brava NGO | Gosteli Stiftung | CH2021 | Humanrights | Frauenstadtrundgang Basel, Winterthur, Luzern und Zürich | Grünliberale Frauen Schweiz, Grüne Stadt Zürich und Grüne Basel Stadt | Bernisches Historisches Museum, “Unerhört” 50 Jahre Frauenstimmrecht Schaffhausen, Haus der Museen Olten und Historisches Museum Luzern | 50 Jahre Frauenstimmrecht Basel, Frauenstreik Zürich, Frauenstimmrecht Zug, Frauenstreik Solothurn, Frauen Aargau | Fembit, Schweiz. Bäuerinnen- und Landfrauenverband und Evangelische Frauen Schweiz

Der Ast, auf dem ich sitze

10SepTuesday July 5th, 2022 By First Hand Films

A tax haven in Switzerland, a half-hearted fight against tax evaders in Germany, a formerly wealthy African country that was led into the abyss by world market prices of raw materials: What at first glance seem to have nothing to do with each other stands for a global economic system that determines all our lives – and the filmmaker is right in the middle of it.

Seize Printemps (Spring Blossom)

10SepWednesday July 10th, 2024 By First Hand Films

Suzanne is 16 years old. She is bored with her peers. On the way to school she passes a theatre every day. There she meets a much older man who becomes her obsession. Because of their age difference, they think that they are no longer bored and fall in love. But Suzanne feels how she risks missing out on her life as a 16-year-old, which she has as much trouble living out as the others.

The best films for swiss cinemas

Category: Allgemein