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Swiss Filmmakers |
| Section: THE ARTS / FILM |
| Author: F.E. Siegel |
| Publication:
The World & I Online |
| Issue Date: 7/1/1992 |
| Size: 2,084 Words, 12,553 Characters |
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Last year Xavier Koller's Journey of Hope won the Oscar for best foreign-language picture, giving the tiny Swiss film industry its greatest boost since Alain Tanner debuted his 1976 award-winning Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000. This year Switzerland commemorates its seven hundredth anniversary, and Pro Helvetia, the Swiss arts council, is celebrating the auspicious occasion worldwide by exporting one of the country's most lauded cultural contributions--five retrospectives of Swiss films.
In the United States, the series is being screened everywhere from UCLA's film Archives to the film Center of Lincoln Center, and is highlighted by the film canons of directors Alain Tanner and Daniel Schmid.
Yet despite the accolades, the Swiss film industry is inundated at home by competition from abroad. Though the Swiss remain Europe's biggest per capita consumers of movies, paying a walloping nine dollars in ticket prices, "there is no internal industrial structure to sustain Swiss cinema," laments Cecile Kung, head of Pro Helvetia's film department.
"We are a rich country with a small population, and there is a limit to the public monies awarded to each film project. Moreover, Switzerland is a country divided between thre...
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...wandering through the timelessness and sanctity of memory.
Schmid opens his film with a wide-angle view of a majestic old building. It's cold and indifferent outside, but inside a microcosm of the opera world lives--warm, vibrant, eternal. The residents are larger than life, and Schmid's Tosca's Kiss--funny, lyrical, and loving--has fashioned a tribute to them and their artistry. Bravo!
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Publication Details
(The World & I Online) |
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The World & I Online is a
comprehensive academic resource that encompasses a broad range of
articles by scholars and experts in the areas of Global Studies,
Liberal Arts, Fine & Applied Arts, General Science, and Spanish.
Originally published monthly in print as The World & I, our site
includes the complete contents since 1986 and continues to publish
a new issue online each month. |
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