sooner or later captures ordinary acts, which in the face of death become a ritual, and gives space to the subtle, nearly invisible gestures and movements, which make the suffering and insecurities more bearable: Caressing a cat, a handshake or a fleeting glance; pictures and moments in death and grief, which we avoid in every day life, feeling insecure, fearful or ashamed. sooner or later tells about the universality of the only certitude in human life. Whether in the Emmental or in Tibet, whether at home or in a hospital, the final farewell to persons and to life is a difficult and painful experience everywhere. But there is no escape from one‘s own transience anywhere.

The film about evanescence, dying, death and grief, despair, anger, pain, helplessness, release and calm.

90 Min, 5.1/stereo, color, 35mm/DCP/Bluray/DVD
Subtitles: German, French, English

 
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What by some of us, looking back, is felt as an irreplaceable loss, is still continuing here in full swing. The swirl of civilisation set in motion by the Chinese has transformed the traditional way of life into a confused tangle of different epochs and values. By chance I caught a thread that led me into the center of this tangle: it is the trail of medicine, the net of public medical care, which is interlaced by two totally different patterns. On the one hand the partially displaced Tibetan monastery medicine and on the other hand the newly introduced Chinese system of barefoot doctors and hospitals on the basis of Western medicine. The cultural revolution signified a catastrophic cut into the tradition of the old Tibetan medicine. It is only with liberalisation in the early 80s that traditional medicine has been recognised again by the state. How does this coexistence express itself daily?

93 Min, mono, color, 16mm/DVD
Subtitles: german, french, english
 
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Just as in rural areas all over the world, popular medicine played an important role in the Emmental of Switzerland until about a hundred years ago. Herbs and roots, the laying-on of hands, the pendulum and charms were used to care for the sick and injured. Alternative medical skills and practices were widespread.

Director Jürg Neuenschwander first discovered the magic of healing in Tibet where he made his film Shigatse – one injection asks for more. In the Far East he was reminded of his own Emmental childhood full of moments without rational explanation. To the sound track of music by the European Chaos String Quintet, The Power of Healing presents healers and their patients. The fi lm appeals for a perception of a world in which the inexplicable is allowed to exist and be trusted.

93 Min, Stereo, color, 35mm/DVD
Subtitles: German, English and French
 
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The Rasheda Trust shows the ups and downs of the Bangladeshi entrepreneur Rasheda Begum, who rose from nothing and holds her ground in a male dominated world. Back in the eighties, Rasheda‘s family lived in extreme poverty. The only cash income came from Rasheda‘s husband Ali, who worked for a pittance as a labourer. When government officials came to the village and offered the first micro credits, Rasheda saw her chance. A success story, filmed in Bangladesh between 1993 and 2005, surprising and entertaining.

52 min, stereo, color, Video 16:9/DVD
Subtitles: german, french, english
 
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“Every day, I think about my family, my children, and the future.” Two years ago, Magheswaran Naganathy fled Sri Lanka. Along with Ratha Sivaramalingam, Puniya Sundarampillai, and about 50 other Tamils, he now lives in a refugee camp run by the Salvation Army in Zollikofen, close to Bern in Switzerland. The residents all find ways to kill time in the camp: Shopping in Shoppyland if their social allowance will stretch to it (they aren’t allowed to get a normal job); role playing to prepare for the much-feared prospect of police questioning; picking out summer clothes at the Red Cross; waiting for the mail carrier to arrive with letters and newspapers from Sri Lanka. “My children always ask me what living in Switzerland is like, and when I’m coming home.”

90 Min, Stereo, color, 16mm/DVD
Subtitles: Deutsch, Französisch, Englisch
 
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Cities in the Age of Terrorism
London, Oklahoma, New York, Madrid, Oslo: Every terrorist attack leads to a tightening of security measures. New laws are introduced, and people, money, and flows of goods are increasingly monitored by cameras, biometric data, and an ever-more conspicuous security architecture. In New York the attack came from the air, in London it travelled on the Underground, and in Oslo it came by car and by boat. So where and how will the next one strike? The Fear That Has 1,000 Eyes shows how the threat of attacks is changing life in cities. By looking back at 9/11, the film offers a view of the future and of how our cities will change. It gives viewers a palpable sense of the fragile balance between our need for security and our desire for freedom.

52 min, stereo, color, HD 4:2:2/Bluray/DVD
language versions: German, English

A glimpse behind the scenes

Acrobatics and transformation as well as dance, music and song are the strong expressive elements of Peking Opera (or Jingjù), a form of traditional Chinese theater. BAO, the Upright Judge, a twelve minute documentary, opens usually closed doors to rehearsal rooms, revealing the hard work that takes place there. It acoompanies the ensemble of Shanghai’s Peking Opera Theatre to the venerable Yifu Theatre in Shanghai. Jürg Neuenschwander’s striking glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes shows Judge BAO during the final preparations before his great performance.

This particular work of Peking Opera lasts over two and a half hours. It is based on the life of the upright and fearless Chinese judge BAO Zheng, 999-1062, who lived during the Northern Song Dynasty. BAO, immediately identifiable for his black-painted face, is a revered character because – using his sword if necessary – he helps poor peasants prevail against corrupt officials, repeatedly and heroically challenging influential family clans, including the Emperor of China.

Commissioned by the Museum der Kulturen Basel, produced by Container TV AG Bern/ Shanghai as part of the exhibition „On Stage – the Art of Peking Opera“, September 6, 2011, to February 26, 2012, www.mkb.ch.

In collaboration with the Chinese Cultural Center, Tongji University Shanghai, and the MediaLab, Bern University oft he Arts.

Of the total population in Switzerland, some eight-hundred thousand – or about ten percent – cannot read or write properly although they attended obligatory schools. It is a staggering number. Most of them are illiterate – a fact they conceal in their everyday lives because our thoughtless society has dismissed them as dumb and lazy since they were very young.

In Boggsing ten of them reveal their predicament allowing us to catch a glimpse of their lives. We learn what strategies they have developed to avoid humiliation. We hear about taboo subjects and great suffering. And they tell us why they have taken the brave decision to break out of their invisible prisons.

BOGGSING – a documentary that gives the word to those who only used to get red pencil marks.

38 Min, stereo, color, HD4:2:2/ Bluray/DVD
Original languages: Swiss German, French
Language versions: Voice-over German, French, English

 
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They are actually dead; yet they cannot let go of the living. These lost souls draw attention to themselves with strange signs that hardly anyone knows how to interpret. A simple woman from the Emmental (Switzerland) tells of her guests, who are caught in the in-between world between life and death. And how she helps them to come to eternal rest.

The in-between world is a film from the factual series “Mysterious Switzerland”, produced by Swiss television SRF, directed by Juerg Neuenschwander.