Working with Europe – and beyond – opens a wealth of possibilities for Swiss cinema, promoting the exchange of skills and access to global markets.
There is absolutely no doubt about it: co-producing a Swiss film with other countries enhances our industry’s possibilities for growth and extends its international reach. Of the 84 feature films produced by Switzerland last year, nearly half were co-productions (19 majority and 18 minority productions). Furthermore, Swiss Films has noted an increase in Swiss presence at international festivals. For minority co-productions, the increase has been significant: 34 were selected for competition in 2023, compared to 18 in 2021. Those screened at major festivals include Philipp Garrel’s “Le grand chariot”, Margarethe von Trotta’s “Ingeborg Bachmann - Reise in die Wüste”, both in competition at the Berlinale, and Alice Rohrwacher’s “La chimera”, in competition in Cannes. Anna Noven’s “Le théorème de Marguerite” and Maxime Rappaz’s “Laissez-moi”, which opened the ACID Cannes programme, were also screened in separate categories at Cannes, receiving broad international media coverage.
Gaining international momentum
“A film like this, with a budget of about three million Swiss francs, had to be co-produced,” says Gabriela Bussmann of GoldenEggProduction, producer of “Laissez-moi”, which has 80% Swiss financing. According to her, the partners helped broaden the film’s reach. “Paraiso Films, based in Paris, quickly partnered with us, and we presented the project in various co-production markets and screenwriting workshops, which also led to our partnership with Belgian producer Fox the Fox.” According to tellfilm’s Katrin Renz, who produced “Ingeborg Bachmann”, with its budget of 9 million euros, the film would never have been made if it had not been co-produced: “In Switzerland, financing is limited to between 1.5 and 3 million euros, even less as of 2025, because Film Investment Refund Switzerland (PICS) will only support co-productions.” “Ingeborg Bachmann” clearly illustrates the advantages of co-production. Switzerland was the majority co-producer (29%), followed by Austria (25%), Germany (25%) and Luxembourg (21%). Katrin Renz notes that such joint endeavours offer more than funding: “Co-production allowed us to access a wider market and release the film simultaneously in the four partner countries, optimizing synergies and cooperation among distributors.” For an international distributor like The Match Factory, “a co-production is attractive because it brings together talent from various countries, while local media coverage of theatrical releases generates enthusiasm that boosts sales on a global scale.”
Exchanges and visibility
Another benefit is the opportunity to draw on the best skills from each country. According to Katrin Renz, “Our Swiss team really enjoyed working with our foreign colleagues, we all learned from each other during pre-production, on set and post-production.” For Gabriela Bussmann, “Benefiting from experienced teams from three countries is stimulating. Swiss cinema is dynamic but suffers from a shortage of technicians in key positions such as production design, electricity and machinery. The film obtains greater international visibility, which means more recognition for the Swiss production. Even with a minority share, this creates jobs for Swiss technicians and allows them to gain international experience.” Co-productions are also to the advantage of Swiss actors, such as Luna Wedler and Basil Eidenbenz in “Ingeborg Bachmann”, who benefit from greater visibility. For “Laissez-moi”, the presence of international talents such as Jeanne Balibar promotes wider distribution. For Elene Naveriani’s “Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry”, which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival Quinzaine des Cinéastes in 2023, the budget of 1.6 million francs was shared between Switzerland (Alva Film, 88%) and Georgia (Takes Film, 12%). Georgia contributed financially and artistically, providing the co-screenwriter and several team leaders for production design and wardrobe, among others.
Challenges and costs
Production scenarios are often complex and there are disadvantages. Referring to “Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry”, Thomas Reichlin of Alva Film explains that “The main difficulty we encountered during this co-production was the termination of support for co-productions in Georgia during the financing period. In the end, it was relatively easy to make up the funding shortfall, but we had several months of huge uncertainty.” Reichlin adds, “The tight schedule was a constant challenge for us and our partners. The rights to the novel were acquired in March 2021 and the world premiere took place in May 2023. Co-productions normally take longer.” With a six-month window to finance the project, many co-producers had to withdraw for want of funding and because of the deadlines. “Ingeborg Bachmann” had to be filmed in several countries to respect certain funding conditions. “Subsidy constraints forced us to shoot certain scenes in Luxembourg, even though there was no connection with the content of the film,” says Katrin Renz. “It’s a bit crazy that we built Ingeborg Bachmann and Max Frisch’s Rome apartment in a studio in Luxembourg, when we were also filming in Rome.” Working internationally can thus also complicate ecologically-friendly production. Mentalities will have change to make certain films more sustainable and to control costs.
Photo: GoldenEggProduction