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Swiss cinema is experiencing a notable shift toward English-language productions, as evidenced by recent festival successes and upcoming projects. Directors including Tim Fehlbaum, Ursula Meier, and Michael Koch gathered at the Venice Production Bridge to examine this emerging trend and discuss both its creative and practical implications for filmmakers working within Switzerland’s film industry.
Fehlbaum, whose acclaimed historical thriller “September 5” exemplifies this movement, is currently developing his next film set in Berlin. The project will blend German and English dialogue, with Fehlbaum noting that introducing an American character unfamiliar with the German language naturally increases English usage while improving financing prospects. Similarly, Meier is preparing “Quiet Land,” an English-language production starring Bill Murray and Léa Seydoux, set in Montana but filming in Alberta. She emphasized that working in English enables her to tackle larger-scale storytelling while allowing her to collaborate with American performers whose acting styles she admires.
Koch recently completed “Erosion,” which pairs American actor Peter Sarsgaard with nonprofessional Swiss mountain residents—a deliberate creative choice designed to present the local community through an outsider’s perspective. Koch observed that language barriers create opportunities for alternative forms of artistic communication on set. While the directors acknowledged English’s growing presence in Swiss filmmaking, they stressed it represents one tool among many rather than a wholesale replacement of their cinematic traditions.
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Originally reported by Variety →
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