28/03/2022 - Unsurprisingly, Elie Grappe’s movie earned itself the Quartz for Best Film, while Laurent Stoop and Svetlana Rodina’s powerful feature was crowned Best Documentary

Olga [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elie Grappe
film profile] by Elie Grappe, a movie already much acclaimed by audiences and critics alike (scooping, amongst other accolades, the 2021 SACD Prize at Cannes’ Critics’ Week), has now hit the jackpot, walking away with all the awards it was nominated for at the Swiss Film Prize, namely Best Film, Best Screenplay - written by the director himself - and Best Sound, curated by Jürg Lempen. Produced by Jean-Marc Fröhle on behalf of Point Prod SA and set to represent Switzerland in the Oscars race, the film tells the crushingly topical tale of a young Ukrainian gymnast forced to take refuge in Switzerland following the Euromaidan riots. Ostrov – Lost Island [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], meanwhile, by Laurent Stoop and Svetlana Rodina, won out over heavy weights like Nothing But The Sun [+see also:
film review
interview: Arami Ullón
film profile] by Arami Ullón, Dida [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Nikola Ilić and Corina Schwingruber Ilić, Healers [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Marie-Eve Hildbrand and Wake Up On Mars [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dea Gjinovci
film profile] by Dea Gjinovci.

The third film to dazzle at the Swiss Film Prize 2022 was Soul of a Beast [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lorenz Merz
film profile], Lorenz Merz’s second feature film which was nominated in an impressive seven categories and which walked away with three Quartz awards: Best Actor for Pablo Caprez (previously crowned Best Young Actor at the Max Ophüls Prize Film Festival), Best Film Soundtrack, Best Photography and the Film Academy’s Special Prize which went to set designer Nicole Hoesli. Telling the frenzied tale of a teenage father, the film previously triumphed at the 2021 Locarno Film Festival, where it bagged a Special Mention within the International Competition.

Not to be outdone, Frédéric Baillif’s explosive blend of fiction and reality The Fam [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fred Baillif
film profile] earned itself the Quartz for Best Actress (going to specialised educator Claudia Grob), as well as a Best Supporting Role award (won by Anaïs Uldry, another actress making her screen debut) and the Best Editing trophy.

For its part, Jela Hasler’s On Solid Ground won the award for Best Short Film, describing the feelings which wash over Eli when the stifling heat of the city eats its way into the coolness of a seemingly life-saving morning bath. And Dans la nature, a blistering treatise on the homosexuality of animals (and others) by Marcel Barelli, earned itself a highly deserved Quartz for Best Animated Film. Presented at countless international festivals, the film previously walked away with the second prize for Best Animated Film at the Solothurn Film Festival 2022 and the Award for Best Film (within the 2021 Sparks line-up) at the Winterthur International Short Film Festival. Love Will Come Later [+see also:
film review
interview: Julia Furer
film profile], meanwhile, which is young director Julia Furer’s first feature film, produced by freihändler Filmproduktion (Franziska Sonder and Stella Händler) alongside Zürcher Hochschule der Künste ZHdK and SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen, nabbed the Best Graduate Film award, painting the portrait of a young Moroccan man torn between family pressures and a need to escape, lost in the fog of what he believes to be his destiny. The movie previously turned heads at the Zurich Film Festival in 2022, where it won the Best Graduate Film award, as well as at the Hof International Film Festival and the 2022 Solothurn Film Festival.

Last but not least, legendary Swiss director Fredi M Murer was handed the Honorary Prize.

The full list of awards is as follows:

Best Film
Olga [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elie Grappe
film profile] - Elie Grappe (Switzerland/France)

Best Documentary
Ostrov – Lost Island [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]- Svetlana Rodina and Laurent Stoop

Best Short
On Solid Ground - Jela Hasler

Best Animated Film
Dans la nature - Marcel Barelli (short film)

Best Screenplay
Olga - Elie Grappe

Best Actress
Claudia Grob – The Fam [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fred Baillif
film profile]

Best Actor
Pablo Caprez – Soul of a Beast [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lorenz Merz
film profile]

Best Supporting Role
Anaïs Uldry – The Fam

Best Soundtrack
Fatima Dunn, Lorenz Merz and Julian Sartorius - Soul of a Beast

Best Photography
Lorenz Merz, Fabian Kimoto - Soul of a Beast

Best Editing
Frédéric Baillif – The Fam

Best Sound
Jürg Lempen - Olga

Best Graduate Film
Love Will Come Later [+see also:
film review
interview: Julia Furer
film profile] – Julia Furer

Film Academy’s Special Prize
Nicole Hoesli, for set design on Soul of a Beast

Honorary Prize
Fredi M Murer, for his contribution to film

(Translated from Italian)