Passeport Suisse

The Swiss have always shown a penchant for going abroad to record their observations in one way or another. Swiss film-makers travel to the farthest corners of the world to make films – for the most part documentaries.

Two films are on the agenda for the 2012 programme. First, an exceptional documentary that was recently restored by the Swiss Cinémathèque: China ohne Maske (China unmasked); 20,000 km through China. In 1936, Hans Vogel, a doctor, took part in a cinematographic expedition to China and Mongolia. He was one of the first to film these countries, using a small 16 mm camera. 

Of more recent vintage, the latest film by Stefan Schwietert, Balkan Melodie (Balkan melody), recounts the epic journeys of Catherine and Marcel Cellier, a couple from the Vaud who crossed the Iron Curtain fifty years ago to collect the musical heritage of Eastern Europe and reveal it to the West.