Swiss Film Awards: Fredi M Murer honoured for life’s work

Fredi M Murer receiving the Pardo alla Carriera at the Locarno Film Festival in 2019 Keystone / Urs Flueeler

Fredi M Murer, who directed what is often considered the best Swiss film of all time, will be awarded the Honorary Prize of the 2022 Swiss Film Awards.

Murer, 81, is a “key figure in Swiss cinema, a filmmaker and craftsman from analogue times”, the Federal Office of Culture said in a statementExternal link on Thursday.

“As a feature-film documentarian and documentary-feature filmmaker, [he is] an ethnologist in his own country. The mysticism and magic of the Alpine world have left their mark on him.”

Murer was born in canton Nidwalden, central Switzerland, and completed his studies at the Zurich School of Design. In the 1960s, his experimental works aimed at nothing less than “reinventing the art of film”, according to the culture office.

He went on to create numerous feature films and documentariesExternal link, including Höhenfeuer (Alpine Fire, 1985) and Vitus (2006), the story of a highly gifted boy that won the Swiss Film Prize in 2007.

Höhenfeuer, which frequently tops lists of the best Swiss films, such as this oneExternal link in 2016, is a family drama and love story set on an isolated mountain farm.

Murer has never been shy to give his opinion, especially on policies involving the cinema. He has often said too much emphasis is now placed on script conventions, instead of trusting experienced directors.

For years he was president of the Association of Film Creators and later the first president of the Swiss Film Academy. He was awarded the “Pardo alla carriera”, the Lifetime Achievement Award, at the Locarno Film Festival in 2019.

The Federal Office of Culture’s Honorary Award, worth CHF30,000 ($32,500), will be presented as part of the Swiss Film Awards in Zurich on March 25.