The Solothurn Days, which celebrate 60 years this year, began on Wednesday evening. Elisabeth Baume-Schneider came to this event for the first time as a federal councilor.
“The Solothurn Days allow us to take stock of Swiss cinematographic creation, said Elisabeth Baume-Schneider on Wednesday evening, in front of nearly 900 people gathered at the Reithalle in Solothurn. It is also a place where we try to understand who we are as a society.
On the occasion of the opening of this anniversary edition, the Minister of Culture quoted Stephan Portmann, co-founder of the Days. At the beginning of the 1960s, “the new wave of Swiss cinema ‘used our reality as raw material’. This movement and the creation of the Solothurn Film Festival were a reaction to profound social, cultural and political changes in Switzerland.”
Spotlight on the Jura Arc
“And if we look a little closer, we see that Switzerland today is in the grip of equally significant upheavals,” said the federal councilor, also sensitive to the fact that the festival is undermining its spotlight during this edition on the films filmed and the paintings produced in the Jura Arc, the region from which it comes.
The artistic director of the Solothurn Days, Niccolo Castelli, invited the public to question their own heritage, one of the key themes of this edition. In this same vein, “The Legacy of Bruno Stefanini” opened Wednesday evening after the speeches. The film follows the saga of this son of Italian immigrants who became a billionaire entrepreneur in Winterthur and a collector of 100,000 objects.
German-speaking production and documentaries predominate in this anniversary edition. During the week, spectators will, for example, be able to discover “Jelmoli – Biography of a Department Store” by director Sabine Gisiger. This documentary traces the history of the Zurich department store Jelmoli, which closed its doors in February after 125 years of existence.
Prices in Solothurn
Six films, four documentaries and two fiction films, are in the running in the premier category of the Solothurn Prize, worth 60,000 francs. Only French-speaking film in this category: “Hôtel Silence” by Genevan Léa Pool, in which a desperate man rebuilds himself by returning to a country destroyed by war.
-Spectators will choose the Audience Award. Here again, only one French-language film this year: “Road’s End In Taiwan” (“On the paths of Taiwan”) by another Genevan, Maria Nicollier, with the actor Pierre-Antoine Dubey, who goes to meet his half-brothers in Taiwan, following in the footsteps of an unknown father.
Among the awards already announced is an honorary prize for Zurich casting director Corinna Glaus, which will be presented to her on Thursday at the Landhaus cinema.
Franco-Swiss actor Cyril Metzger, 30, won the 2025 “Swissperform” Prize for best leading role in a television production. The prize was awarded to him for his interpretation of hotelier André Morel in the series “Winter Palace”, the first series co-produced by Netflix and RTS.
The prize for the next generation of the “Swissperform” Prize is awarded to Genevan Isaline Prévost Radeff in the series “On the high seas” by Denis Rabaglia. These prizes will be awarded on Sunday.
The Solothurn Days will end next Wednesday with the presentation of the Solothurn Prize and the Public Prize.
This article was automatically published. Source: ats
