The European Film Academy has added this historical ship to its list of locations with special significance for European film history. A ceremony will take place on board the “Schiller” in June 2024.
Since 2015, the European Film Academy has maintained a list of “Treasures of European Film Culture” documenting locations with special symbolic significance for European film history. The Academy hopes that this initiative can help maintain these locations, landscapes, buildings and institutions for future generations.
Well-known locations from the list include the Ferris wheel from the Prater amusement park in Vienna, a scene from the classic film “The Third Man” with Joseph Cotton and Orson Welles; the Trevi fountain in Rome, which featured in Federico Fellini’s “La dolce vita”; the ‘007 Elements’ installation in the ICE Q restaurant in Gaislachkogel ob Sölden, where scenes for the Bond film “Spectre” were filmed; and Café des deux Moulins in Paris, part of the setting for “The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain”.
This collection of 41 film locations was expanded with eight new entries this year, including the first location from Switzerland – the Schiller, a 118-year-old historical paddle steamer. Scenes from the feature film “La Chimera” were filmed here on Lake Lucerne in 2022, and the film premiered in 2023 as a competition entry at the Cannes Film Festival. “La Chimera” was an Italian-French-Swiss co-production directed by the Italian Alice Rohrwacher and produced by the Italian Carlo Cresto-Dina, featuring actors Josh O’Connor and Isabella Rossellini. Production designer Emita Frigato won the 2023 European Film Award for best set design for her work on the film.
Other movies have also been shot on board the “Schiller”, including “Ludgwig 1881” with Helmut Berger. The fleet of five nostalgic paddle boats on Lake Lucerne are a Swiss cultural treasure and part of the country’s history of industry and tourism. They are not only popular with passengers from all around the world, but they have also featured in films such as “Indochine” with Catherine Deneuve.
The Academy’s ceremony to induct the boat as a “Treasure of European Film Culture” will take place on board the “Schiller” in June 2024.
Treasures of European Film Culture (europeanfilmacademy.org)
Picture: Dampferfreunde Vierwaldstättersee