Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Movie on addiction and childhood wins Swiss film critics’ prize

film
The movie captures the end of Zurich's open drug scene in the 1990s. C films

The feature film "Platzspitzbaby" by Pierre Monnard has been voted the best Swiss film of 2020 by the Swiss Association of Film Journalists.

The movie is based on a book by Michelle Halbheer and chronicles a girl’s love for her drug-addicted mother in Zurich in 1995. The young girl invents a fictional world to escape her mother’s addiction. It was made on a budget of CHF3.1 million and managed to draw around 330,000 cinema fans across the country despite Covid-19 restrictions. 

In second place of the best Swiss films of 2020 was “Mare” by director Andrea Staka. The film tells the story of a mother of a family who lives next to an airport without ever having taken a plane.

External Content

In third place was the film “Petite soeur”. This feature film by Los Angeles-based directors Stéphanie Chuat and Véronique Reymond focuses on Lisa, a playwright who has stopped writing and is trying to get her twin brother, a famous actor who is seriously ill, back on stage.

These three award-winning films are also nominated for the Swiss Film Prize 2021: “Petite soeur” won six nominations, “Platzspitzbaby” five and “Mare” three. Due to the pandemic, 2020 was an extremely difficult year for cinema. However, numerous Swiss films (55 feature films and documentaries) were released in cinemas, from which the 170 members of the Swiss Association of Film Journalists made their choice.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

No Swiss bank in phase with environmental objectives

More

Swiss banks failing environment, says WWF

This content was published on None of the 15 major Swiss retail banks is meeting international climate and biodiversity targets, according to a ranking by WWF Switzerland.

Read more: Swiss banks failing environment, says WWF
UNRWA provides emergency assistance to just over one million Palestine refugees, or about 75 per cent of all Palestine refugees in Gaza, who lack the financial means to cover their basic food.

More

Lazzarini: no alternative to UNRWA in Gaza

This content was published on The only alternative to the UN Palestinian agency’s work in Gaza is to allow Israel to run services there, Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, told reporters in Geneva on Monday.

Read more: Lazzarini: no alternative to UNRWA in Gaza

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR