Simon Guy Fässler

Movies

Mountain Ride
Director of Photography
After years of mass tourism in the Alps, a rethinking is slowly taking place. Whether researchers, artists or philosophers, many are trying to approach the essence of the mountains in new ways.
La tentazione di esistere
Cinematography
A pensioner with many phobias realises one day that four million francs have been mistakenly deposited into his account. Instead of notifying the bank, he makes an unexpected decision: he withdraws the money and flees on his moped.
Passion - Between Revolt and Resignation
Director of Photography
Almost 50 years ago, women and men all over the word dreamed of changing the world. What is left today of the expectations and the hopes of the people that flooded the streets? Not much, unfortunately. The filmmaker examines episodes from his own life, trying to understand how they fit—if they do at all—with the major changes of the world that hint all at a catastrophe in the waiting.
Cronofobia
Director of Photography
A mysterious lonely man and a young rebel woman, confront each other in a psychological drama about suspended identity.
The Stone Eater
Cinematography
In a small mountain valley in Italy, the former criminal Cesare discovers the corpse of his nephew Fausto.
Aloys
Cinematography
A lonely private investigator is contacted by a mysterious woman who pulls him into a mind game known as “telephone walking”. Fascinated by her voice, Aloys discovers an imaginary universe that allows him to break out of his isolation.
The Dark Gene
Director of Photography
The film tells a very personal story from two perspectives: our protagonist is both doctor and patient. As a patient, he has struggled with recurring depression for years, and as a doctor he wants to find out why. The search for the origins of his illness leads him into the realm of his own genes and casts light on the fundamental changes facing modern society as a result of the tremendous progress being made in the field of genetic sequencing. Along the way, he meets a host of people – researchers, artists, visionaries – who have developed their own very individual approach to genetic coding and are drawing attention to the social significance of genetic technology. The film does not restrict itself to a scientific view of the subject but also makes use of artistic visions and more playful approaches to genetic blueprints.
Grozny Blues
Director of Photography
«Grozny Blues» follows a few people around Grozny, the capital of war-torn Chechnya where daily life is defined by political repression, constricting customs, forced Islamification and the failure to come to terms with recent history. The film revolves around four women who have been fighting for human rights under worsening conditions for many years but get more and more disillusioned with the situation in Putin’s Russia. The building where they work is also home to a Blues Club that is frequented by a group of young people. Having only vague memories of the Chechen wars in the 90s, they try to make sense of the strange things that are happening in their country. In linking the personal and intimate to the political, Nicola Bellucci shows in a dramatic and yet very poetic way what it means to live in a divided society that navigates a no-man’s land between war and peace, repression and freedom, archaic traditions and modern life.
Muhai Tang - In The Ocean Of Music
Director of Photography
MUHAI TANG – IN THE OCEAN OF MUSIC is a portrait of Chinese conductor Muhai Tang’s extraordinary life. Born in 1949, the founding year of the People’s Republic of China, and raised during the Cultural Revolution, it seemed as if he would have to abandon his dream of a career in music. However, his talent, perseverance and the support of Herbert von Karajan ultimately brought him to the world’s concert halls. Today, Muhai Tang is a global nomad. A wanderer between the worlds which he unites with music. His personal history, interspersed with historical caesurae, is typical for Chinese of his generation. He gained access to western culture early on through music. Muhai Tang’s life and work are exemplary of a changing China and the enrichment of the world by an artist between East and West.
René
Cinematography
René is sitting in his car driving through his drab reality. Suddenly, he has to sneeze. He pauses and listens. After a few quiet moments, he murmurs, “Bless you”. Then he moves towards the camera and continues: “I am a scream without an echo.” The film is the tragicomedy of a man searching for his echo, the way out of his loneliness. All paths are blocked and his quest becomes more and more of an odyssey. Evading his own insanity and narrowly escaping death, he gradually notices that the search can only end with oneself.