Rainer Trinkler

Fantasizes an 'Old' Middle East, wherein communities were not divided along ethnic and religious lines; a Middle East in which even metaphorical borders had no place

During the summer of 1968, students from all over Mexico gathered in the capital to demand democracy. The Olympic Games were about to be held and the government, chaired by Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, offered a brutal response in the form of repression, causing hundreds of deaths.

A documentary about the French writer Jean Genet and his relations with the Palestinian revolution. One day after the September 1982 massacre at the refugee camp of Shatila in Beirut, Genet visits the camp. Suffering from throat cancer and having written nothing in years, Genet begins to write on the threshold of his death about this disturbing new experience. It leads to his last book, entitled “Un captif amoureux” in which Genet reflects on the Palestinian revolution, its defeat, and the loss of one’s homeland. In this film a young French woman of Algerian origin who is reading the book returns to the landscapes of the Palestinian resistance and the refugee camps full of exiles, in search of Genet.

Film by Kläy and Brauer.

A three-part documentary about four young men who were active members of the Zurich youth movement in the early 1980s and died tragically as a result of “accidents” with the involvement of the police. The exuberant Dani and Michi stole a motorbike to go on a joyride; a police car gave chase and caused their fatal crash. Renato, a young junkie raised in orphanages, was shot by the police while driving a stolen car. Max, an innocent bystander at a youth demonstration, was clubbed on the head by a police officer, and later died of complications caused by his head injuries. Taken together, these three incidents reflect the tense and violent atmosphere of the time and the conflict between repressive authority and a young generation desperate for freedom

A “filmic re-reading” of Max Frisch's novella Montauk (1974) and of excerpts from his published diaries. It is neither a biographical portrait of Frisch – who was one of the greatest 20th century Swiss writers – nor a filmed adaptation of the novel. Instead, Dindo returns to the locations the author describes in his texts, searching for traces of past events that may turn out to have been more imagined than real.

A “filmic re-reading” of Max Frisch's novella Montauk (1974) and of excerpts from his published diaries. It is neither a biographical portrait of Frisch – who was one of the greatest 20th century Swiss writers – nor a filmed adaptation of the novel. Instead, Dindo returns to the locations the author describes in his texts, searching for traces of past events that may turn out to have been more imagined than real.

Without knowing it, Alfred and Julia live in a land of pure invention. It is the richest and most beautiful land in the world. From a height, this land looks like a piece of felt, from close up like a clean and tiny park. The footpaths are lined with benches and the streets with banks. Alfred and Julia have been married for 8 years, are childless, and live on the 16th floor of a new building. Thanks to their various crises, they have got to know each other somewhat better, but their most outstanding characteristic remains their mediocrity. On Friday, August 12th 1977, a mysterious epidemic breaks out in their country. The mass media ensure that the news is widely broadcast. The authorities order a ban on information, but those concerned break their imposed silence. On Sunday evening, it becomes known that the epidemic was nomore than a kind of "dress rehearsal" for a real emergency. Alfred and Julia continue to live in a land of pure invention - but now they are conscious of the fact.