04/04/2017 - The jury of the Saas-Fee Filmfest, which has now reached its fourth edition, awarded four movies that focus on tenacious characters grappling with difficult decisions

Director Valentin Hitz with his Crystal Larch, flanked by the members of the jury (© Saas-Fee Filmfest)

The jury of this year’s Saas-Fee Filmfest, which was made up of three charismatic personalities – German actress Franziska Petri, Swiss director Micha Lewinsky and Austrian director and screenwriter Götz Spielmann (who also led an interesting master class entitled “Dramaturgy - The Structure of Narration”) – handed the top prize, the Crystal Larch, to Hidden Reserves [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Valentin Hitz
film profile] by Valentin Hitz. Co-produced by Austria, Switzerland and Germany, the film, which has already been presented at several major gatherings, including the Solothurn Film Festival, takes us to the beating heart of the ultra-competitive job market, with its twisted logic dictated by one god, and one god alone: success.

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Meanwhile, the Critics Choice Award went to the feature debut by Italian director Ronny Trocker, The Eremites [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which was previously selected for the Horizons section of the Venice Film Festival. The winner of the Audience Award was Mercy [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Fulvio Bernasconi
film profile], the intriguing thriller by Swiss filmmaker Fulvio Bernasconi. The Special Mention by the Critics Jury went to The Stopover [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Delphine and Muriel Coulin
film profile] (Best Screenplay Award at the most recent Cannes Film Festival), the second feature by promising French directors Delphine and Muriel Coulin, who made their debut in 2011 with 17 Girls [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

Other events enriching the programme included the Fireside Talk dedicated to the “Perspectives of Swiss Cinema”, a topic that the festival has paid particular attention to ever since it was created. Three key figures from the Swiss film landscape were there to liven up the discussion: Ivo Kummer, the head of the film branch of the Federal Office of Culture, and the two Swiss directors Micha Lewinsky and Tobias Nölle. 

(Translated from Italian)