Zurich - International Film Festival

People Watching a Film at Pavillion of Reflections

The Zurich International Film Festival has just come to an end and I tried to maximize my time as much as possible (despite the flat hunt!).

Switzerland actually has quite a few film festivals – the most famous one is probably the one in Locarno; there’s also an animation film festival and other such events around Switzerland. This was the 12th Zurich International Film Festival, so it’s a relatively young event, but gets bigger each year. On this occasion, we had Hugh Grant, Ewan McGregor, and the guy who plays Harry Potter (among others) coming along and giving talks / receiving prizes.

A bit like getting accommodation in Switzerland, I tried to get tickets to see Hugh Grant receive his award, but tickets were sold out within 10 minutes of sales opening. This seems to be a bit of a theme in my life just now.

Nevertheless, I bought myself an afternoon pass, which cost 59 CHF and let me go into all performances for free that started before 6pm. Since one film costs 22 CHF, it doesn’t take much to get your money back (so to speak). I don’t work most afternoons, so this suited me just fine.

I must have seen about seven films in total. On some occasions, the director or producer is there to talk a bit about the film and to take questions afterwards. It’s very interesting, but can also be a bit stressful if there aren’t many people in the audience and everyone is waiting for someone else to ask a question. The moderator, of course, always has questions to fill in, but that tension is still there (at least in my head it is, even if it isn’t in anyone else’s head!). Each film has a speaker welcoming you to the Film Festival and introducing the film before it starts, so it is different from just a normal cinema viewing.

Annoyingly, they really want you to get your tickets at the Festival Centre and not at the cinema (or at least, this is the case for Corso, where virtually all my films have been). It’s annoying, because it’s easier just to get the ticket from where you need to be rather than making an extra detour, even if it’s only just across the road. Moreover, the Corso, which usually has up to four desks open for giving out tickets, had only one desk open for the Festival. Madness! It’s not what I expect from Switzerland.

The film blurbs generally tell you what language the film is in and what language(s) the subtitles are in. However, sometimes, this really isn’t that clear. For instance, I saw Vollmond which said it was in Swiss German, French, and Italian and had German subtitles. I thought this meant that the Swiss German would also have subtitles, but it didn’t. The subtitles were only for the French and Italian, so most of the film was in a language that I struggled to understand (I maybe caught about 40% - enough to get the gist, but I also felt I missed a fair amount).

This also happened with a Tim Roth film where it was supposed to be in English and Spanish with German subtitles, but it was actually pretty much all in Spanish. I was OK with the subtitles, but Caterina, who came with me, was totally lost.

I am probably sounding a bit grumpy, but that’s not really the case. I’d deliberately timed my stay in Switzerland to coincide with the Film Festival, so that’s how enthusiastic about it I really am! Moreover, the afternoon film pass is great value and since I never go to the cinema in Egypt, it was nice for me to have a chance to overdose (although I don’t feel like I’ve overdosed!).

Another fantastic feature of the festival was the free showing of films in the Pavillion of Reflections (pictured in an earlier blog). This is a temporary wooden structure going out into the lake. You cross over to it via a wooden bridge that wobbles a bit as the water pushes against it. It has a screen area in the middle of the water with seating around a boxed-in portion of the lake. Bar seating is around the edges.

I wandered down spontaneously on Friday, and got a bit sidetracked by seeing someone who was obviously famous (only I had no idea who he was!) surrounded by people wanting their photos taken with him. It really added to the atmosphere. I then ambled over to the Pavillion of Reflections, bought myself a prosecco, and watched two very interesting shorts with the water occasionally lapping up to my shoes. Again, the weather was exceptionally mild, so it was a great experience.

I hope I am able to go again next year.