On September 13, 2018, «Chris the Swiss» will finally be released in Swiss cinemas. The theatrical release in Romandy will follow on September 19.

The following cinemas will screen the anima-doc:

German part:
Basel: Kult.Kino Atelier, Screening in presence of Anja Kofmel: 16.09., 11am
Bern: Quinnie, Premiere in presence of Anja Kofmel: 13.09., 8 pm
Biel: Cinevital Rex
Chur: Kino Apollo, Pre-premiere in presence of Anja Kofmel: 10.09.
Frauenfeld: Luna Frauenfeld, Screening in presence of Anja Kofmel and Marcel Vaid: 15.09., 8pm
Klosters: Cinéma89
Luzern: Bourbaki, Screening in presence of Anja Kofmel: 16.09., 6pm
Olten: Lichtspiele
St. Gallen: Kinok, Screening in presence of Anja Kofmel: 14.09., 8pm
Winterthur: Cameo, Screening in presence of Anja Kofmel: 20.09., 8.15pm
Zug: Kino Hürlimann, Pre-premiere in presence of Anja Kofmel: 11.09., 8pm
Zürich: Kosmos, Houdini, Pre-premiere at Kosmos in presence of Anja Kofmel: 12.09., 6.30pm

Romandy:
Fribourg: Rex, Pre-premiere in presence of Anja Kofmel: 17.09., 6.15pm
Genève: Grütli, Pre-premiere in presence of Anja Kofmel: 18.09., 7.30pm
La Chaux de Fonds: Scala
Lausanne: City Club de Pully, Premiere in presence of Anja Kofmel: 19.09., 8pm
Neuchâtel: Apollo, Screening in presence of Anja Kofmel: 21.09., 8.15pm
Pully: City Club, Screening in presence of Anja Kofmel: 19.09., 8pm
Sainte-Croix: Cinéma Royal, Screening in presence of Anja Kofmel: 22.09., 6pm

See you in the cinemas...

We are pleased to present the official trailer for Christine Repond's film «Vacuum». The main roles of the drama are played by Barbara Auer and Robert Hunger-Bühler. Auer was awarded the Award as «Best Actress» for her performance of Meredith at the 21st Pöff - Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn in 2017.

The film is distributed by First Hand Films and will be released on 7 June 2018 in Swiss cinemas. Further information will follow.

On Sunday, May 13, 2018, Anja Kofmel’s directorial debut «Chris the Swiss» celebrated his long awaited world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. The film is part of the «Semaine de la Critique» competition, the winners of which will be announced on 16 May.

The international press was impressed by Kofmels animated documentary:
«Kofmel’s emphasis on subjectivism can be seen in the use of near surreal symbolism.» Variety
«Her film is a thinking with hands.» Tagesanzeiger
«It's an exciting investigation, a reflection on the horrors of war, a thriller, an initiation journey, interspersed with animation sequences of a frightening beauty.» Télérama
«A fall into the depths of consciousness, a moral disorientation, given what Anja discovered and what we discover with her.» Quinlan
Interview with Marcel Vaid, the composer of «Chris the Swiss» at filmfestivals.com

We would like to thank the whole team and all supporters who made this premiere possible and are keeping our fingers crossed for the award ceremony.

We are happy to announce that the animated documentary «Chris the Swiss» by Anja Kofmel has been selected for the 71st Festival International de Cannes in the category «Semaine de la critique». The festival takes place from 9.-17. May 2018.

«Chris the Swiss» won the Golden Zagreb Award as the best project in development at  Animafest Zagreb in 2013 and is now celebrating its long-awaited world premiere in Cannes.

The film takes the viewers to Croatia in 1992: In the midst of the Yugoslav Wars, Chris, a young Swiss journalist is found dead in mysterious circumstances. He was wearing the uniform of an international mercenary group. Anja Kofmel was his cousin. As a little girl, she used to admire this handsome young man; now a grown-up woman, she decides to investigate his story, trying to understand what really was the involvement of Chris in the conflict …

The 36-year-old Anja Kofmel made the story behind the mysterious death of her cousin in 2009 the subject of her highly regarded graduation film «Chrigi». With «Chris the Swiss»  she has now realized her first feature film. The famous Swiss actor Joel Basman (Chris) lends Chris his voice and Susanne-Maria Wrage leads through the film as a narrator.

The film was produced by Samir -Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion; Sinisa Juricic - Nukleus Film Croatia; Heino Deckert - ma.ja.de., Germany and Iikka Vehkalahti - IV Films, Finland.

The four-country co-production was financed by the SRF Swiss Radio and Television, the SRG SSR, Teleclub, Eurimages, the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, the Zurich Film Foundation, Succès Cinéma, the Lottery Fund Canton Solothurn, SSA, Suissimage, the Ernst Göhner Foundation, Focal, Verena Josephsohn, the Croatian Audiovisual Centre (HAVC), the MDM Film Commission, the Finnish Film Foundation and YLE.

On Friday evening, March 23, 2018, the Swiss Film Award ceremony took place in Zurich. We are delighted that «Facing Mecca» won the Swiss Film Award in the category «Best Short Film».
There was a also a special surprise that evening: Thomas Nellen was awarded the Special Academy Award for the make-up in the film «Vacuum». The award was presented by the actor Jeff Bridges and screened in the Halle 622 via video.
We congratulate both teams.