Trances (1982)

A well-preserved mammoth carcass is found in the remote New Siberian Islands in the Arctic Ocean, opening up the possibility of a world-changing “Jurassic Park” moment in genetics.

A Ópera de Paris está sob nova direção, e se prepara para levantar as cortinas com um novo espetáculo: 'Moisés e Aarão' de Schönberg. Mas o anúncio de uma greve e a chegada de um touro como ator coadjuvante podem complicar as coisas.

"O Grande Silêncio" é o primeiro filme sobre a vida interior da Grande Chartreuse, casa mãe da Ordem dos Cartuxos, uma meditação silenciosa sobre a vida monástica. Dezessete anos depois de ter pedido autorização para filmar no mosteiro, é dada autorização para entrar ao realizador, que filmará a vida interior dos monges cartuxos. Sem música à exceção dos cânticos do mosteiro, sem entrevistas, nem comentários, ou artifícios. Evocam-se unicamente a passagem do tempo, das estações, os elementos repetidos incessantemente durante o dia ou as orações. Um filme sobre a presença do absoluto e a vida de homens que dedicam a sua existência a Deus. O filme ganhou os Prêmios de Melhor Documentário no Festival de Sundance e nos Prêmios Europeus do Cinema.

An account of the life and work of Swiss painter, sculptor, architect and designer H. R. Giger (1940-2014), tormented father of creatures as fearsome as they are fascinating, inhabitants of nightmarish biomechanical worlds.

Ceschi and Stamm's documentary tells the incredible story of Monika Krause, a former East German citizen, who became Fidel Castro's Sexual Education Minister. After 20 years in Cuba, Krause set the Cuban sexual revolution in motion: in favor of a woman's right to sexual fulfillment and legal abortion, and against exclusion of homosexuals, she acquired the title "Queen of Condoms". A film about potent female agitators, staunch macho men and Caribbean love lives.

The incredible story of how the mummified corpse of a 40-year-old man was discovered by a hunter in one of the most remote parts of the country. The dead man's detailed notes reveal that he actually committed suicide through self-imposed starvation only the summer before. Liechti's film is a stunning rapprochement of a fictional text, which itself is based upon a true event: a cinematic manifesto for life, challenged by the main character's radical renunciation of life itself. (peterliechti.ch)

The Grüninger case from Switzerland. This is a documentary about a police officer who showed civil courage back in the forties when he led many refugees fleeing German Nazi terror immigrate to Switzerland, although he was advised not to do so. Grüninger later was sued by the state of Switzerland, lost his job and died in the early seventies. The film constructs a just lawsuit with eye-witnesses and thus fully legitimates what Grüninger did.

While managers of Swiss banks in the USA ruefully apologize for their tax evasions practices and customer data is disclosed to the American authorities, Rudolf Elmer, former auditor at bank Julius Bär, is indicted for violating the Swiss banking secrecy law on the Cayman Islands. Rudolf Elmer: from insider to critic.

A documentary. David Sieveking takes the advice of his idol, David Lynch and tries out Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's transcendental meditation technique.

Above and Below is a rough and rhythmic roller coaster ride seating five survivors in their daily hustle through an apocalyptic world. A journey of challenges and beauty in uncomfortable places: Rick & Cindy, Godfather Lalo in the flood channels deep down under the shiny strip of Sin City. Dave in the dry and lonesome Californian desert and April in simulation for a Mars mission in the Utah desert. Through the hustle, the pain and the laughs, we are whisked away to an unfamiliar world, yet quickly discover the souls we encounter are perhaps not that different from our own.

Filmmaker Peter Mettler embarks on a mission that takes him around the world. He is determined to record the diverse modes of transcendence that people in different cultures adopt in order to live life to the fullest. As he traverses civilization and wilderness and encounters a range of lifestyles and ideas, the filmmaker's mind-expanding trip around the world grows into a poem of images and sounds, reflecting the fragmented but alluring worlds it attempts to capture.

Croácia, 7 de janeiro de 1992. Durante a guerra, o corpo de um jovem jornalista é encontrado com o uniforme de um grupo mercenário internacional. Dezenove anos mais tarde, sua prima Anja Kofmel investiga essa história para tentar compreender o papel dele no conflito.

A high-rise apartment built in the 1960s provides housing for 2500 people from 42 nations. Separated from the city by a river and bounded by towering sandstone cliffs, everyone attempts to live and survive in their own way. Foreigners who have a go at being Swiss, and Swiss who observe with scepticism. They meet in the corner shop run by an Iraqi living in exile, send their kids to a children’s club managed by a missionary, and old drinking mates meet regularly over a beer in the neighbourhood’s only bar. Despite all the differences, they are rather proud of the fact that they come from here.

An avant-garde documentary film on English guitarist, composer and improviser Fred Frith.

Os pastores Carole e Pascal se dirigem à Suíça francófona debaixo de neve com três burros, quatro cachorros e 800 ovelhas. Contornam estradas principais, trilhos ferroviários, casas suburbanas e estados industriais, passando por campos e florestas.

The true story of one man's fight for freedom. For more than 60 years Tibetans have been fighting Chinese oppression. But their non-violent struggle appears to be in vain. Now, as a new form of peaceful protest, Tibetans are setting themselves on fire. Loten Namling - an exiled Tibetan and musician living in Switzerland - is deeply disturbed by such self-destructive action. So he sets off from Europe to India, on a one-man mission to meet top politicians, experts and young radicals. He himself becomes increasingly radical and is on the verge of violent protest. Finally he ends up at The Office of the Dalai Lama in India to seek the advice of the exiled Tibetan leader.