Chrieg

Movie
Original title	Chrieg
Country of production	Switzerland
original language	Swiss German
Publishing year	2014
length	100 minutes
Age rating	FSK 16
Rod
Director	Simon Jaquemet
script	Simon Jaquemet
production	Christian Davi , Thomas Thümena , Christof Neracher
camera	Lorenz Merz
cut	Christof Schertenleib
occupation
Benjamin Lutzke : Matteo Ste : Anton Ella Rumpf : Ali Sascha Gisler : Dion John Leuppi : Matteo's father Livia S. Reinhard : Matteo's mother Ernst C. Sigrist : Hanspeter Patric Gehrig : Stefan

Chrieg ( Swiss German for war ) is a Swiss film drama by the young director Simon Jaquemet from 2014. The film received five nominations for the Swiss Film Prize and was awarded the main prize at the Max Ophüls Festival . Leading actor Benjamin Lutzke won the award for Best Young Actor . The film premiered on September 21, 2014 at the San Sebastián Film Festival . The cinema release in German-speaking Switzerland was on March 12, 2015, and in Germany on April 28, 2016.

action

The taciturn, disaffected teenager Matteo lives into the day and avoids the subliminal conflicts with his parents as much as possible. In order to gain respect from his father, he asks a prostitute to pretend to be his girlfriend. When he goes for a long walk with the family's baby, and the baby is injured in the process, the parents draw the consequences: Matteo is supposed to go to a boot camp in the Alps. During the night, Matteo is led away by two men.

In the camp, Matteo meets Anton, Dion and Ali, who let him understand who is in charge of the alpine hut. The supervisor, the drinking old man Hanspeter, is more of a minor character. After Matteo has survived two nights outside in the cage and on a leash, he is taken to a power pole where, as a final test of courage, he is supposed to get the key to his collar. When he manages to do it and also stands up at breakneck height, he is accepted into the aisles. Matteo feels drawn to Ali, but the others point out to him that no one is allowed to touch them.

At night the youngsters drive down into town in Hanspeter's jeep and go on trips full of aggression and violence. They are waging a war against the adults, against everyone and everything. Ali leads them to their parents' house, the interior of which they completely demolish shortly afterwards. In a frenzy, Matteo decides to take revenge on his father. They lie in wait for him and find out that he wants to see a prostitute. To get him on, Ali is supposed to act as bait. After Matteo and Dion could not find the car on the parking deck, Matteo beats his father in a blind rage.

Back at the hut, the youngsters wait for the police to show up. They pass the time near the hut. When a large stone rolls on Dion's foot, a dispute breaks out about what to do next. Anton wants with all his might to prevent an ambulance or the police from being called. You come to terms with the situation and wait. When someone finally arrives, Matteo is informed that his father is seriously injured in the hospital. When he visits, his father asks him to keep quiet. Matteo is now allowed to return home, but finds that everything is as before. Disappointed, he walks back to the hut, but finds no one there.

background

The script was created with the support of numerous content development programs such as the “TorinoFilmLab”, the “Berlinale Talent Project Market” and the “Atéliers Premiers Plans d'Anger”. The film was produced by Hugofilm from Zurich in coproduction with SRF / SRG and received funding from the Federal Office of Culture , Migros Culture Percentage and MEDIA . For further financing, funding from Business Location Südtirol (BLS) was applied for. The budget for the film was two million euros.

Both for budget and artistic reasons, the work was mostly done with amateur actors. In order to find the main actor, several street castings were carried out. Benjamin Lutzke was the first person to approach Jaquemet, and in the end he was selected from over 1,000 candidates. With the exception of the equipment manager, cameraman and film editor, the film crew also consisted of people who were working in the field for the first time. The shooting took place over 36 days in Switzerland and South Tyrol .

Distributed by First Hand Films , the film was originally supposed to be released on February 5, 2015 in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, but the start was postponed to March 12, 2015.

criticism

The film received mixed reviews. The Hollywood Reporter spoke in San Sebastian of a "captivating first half", but the second half was "disappointingly just violent". Reviewer Jonathan Holland saw the film in the tradition of the Dardenne brothers' films ; he “show everything” and “judge nothing”. The Wiener Zeitung, however, celebrated the film as the salvation of Swiss film . With "rough edges" the film would stand out from the "mediocrity" that "unfortunately spread" in Swiss films. In the Berliner Zeitung, Rüdiger Suchsland described the film as "truly, combative, politically and visually gripping" and as a "deserved award winner" at the Max Ophüls Festival.

The criticism of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung judged the film as “raw, direct, dialectally undisguised”. The dramaturgy is "uneven, the scenes, although largely taken from reality", remain "abrupt, are abstract islands of events". Accordingly, the "actions and situations in importance and strength" would gain. Jaquemet's film appears “authentic in (almost) every moment”. The SRF said the film was "haunting and disturbing". The fact that the origin of the “seemingly infinite anger” remains “inexplicable” is “the difficulty and at the same time the strength of Chrieg ”. Although the motifs are “at best partially understandable”, “one believes in the film that these people really exist”.

The audience also met with divided opinions. At the screening at the Berlinale, some people would have left the hall, while other voices saw the film as the best film at the Berlinale. From the audience's point of view, the apparently senseless excesses of violence were particularly criticized, without the “social component” becoming clear. The “director's perplexity” would thus be carried over to the audience.

Festivals

The film was shown at the following festivals:

• Guadalajara, 30 ° Festival Internacional de Cine de Guadalajara, March 2015
• Berlin, 65th Berlin International Film Festival , February 2015
• Solothurn, 50th Solothurn Film Festival , January 2015
• Saarbrücken, 36th Film Festival Max Ophüls Preis , competition, January 2015
• Marrakech, 14e Festival international du film de Marrakech, competition, December 2014
• Torino, 32 ° Torino Film Festival , November 2014
• Sao Paulo, 38a Mostra Internacional del Cinema de Sao Paulo, competition, October 2014
• Zurich, 10th Zurich Film Festival , competition, September / October 2014
• San Sebastián, 62nd Festival Internacional de Cine de San Sebastián , competition, September 2014

Awards

Simon Jaquemet at the award ceremony of the Max Ophüls Festival 2015

In January 2015, the film received the main prize of the Max Ophüls Festival, endowed with 36,000 euros . In its justification, the jury found the film to be “a powerful debut that grabbed us straight away with its force, clarity and authenticity”. Lead actor Benjamin Lutzke received the award for the best young actor. "With almost frightening credibility", Lutzke embodies "Matteo's pendulum between hopeless despair, apparent longing for death and naked violence" and thus delivers an "outstanding actor debut", judged the jury.

The film also received five nominations at the 2015 Swiss Film Awards in the categories of Best Film , Best Lead Actor , Best Supporting Actress , Best Cinematography and Best Montage . However, only Lorenz Merz could win , who had already been  awarded the prize for the best camera for Rolando Colla's film Sommerspiele (2011) .

At the 29th Bolzano Film Festival in April 2015, the film won the prize for the best feature film. The “direct and economic narrative style with which the loveless and lightless environment and the strong conflicts of the main character Matteo are depicted” as well as the “courageous and risk-taking attitude of the director” were emphasized. At the film festival in Marrakech, the film had already won the jury's prize at the end of 2014 and Benjamin Lutzke the award for best acting.

Web links

• Chrieg in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Chrieg press kit (PDF; 1.9 MB). First hand films.
• Romina Loliva: Director Simon Jaquemet: Real character. The time , Nº 11/2015.
• Simon Jaquemet Talks About Buzzed-up Debut 'Chrieg'. Variety (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Release certificate for Chrieg . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 157355 / K).
2. ↑ ^{a b} Nominations for the Swiss Film Prize 2015. (No longer available online.) Swiss Film Prize , archived from the original on February 4, 2015 ; accessed on March 31, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Prize Winner 2015. (No longer available online.) Film Festival Max Ophüls Prize , January 24, 2015, archived from the original on July 3, 2015 ; accessed on March 31, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ Release Info. Internet Movie Database , accessed March 31, 2015 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b} Chrieg. Hugofilm, accessed March 31, 2015 . 
6. ↑ Chrieg. Filmdienst , 9/2016, accessed on May 2, 2016 . 
7. ↑ ^{a b c d} “Chrieg” wins two awards in Marrakech. Swiss Films, December 14, 2014, accessed on March 31, 2015 . 
8. ↑ ^{a b} Chrieg press dossier. (PDF; 1.9 MB) First Hand Films, accessed March 31, 2015 . 
9. ↑ ^{a b} You don't learn filmmaking in Switzerland. Bucher's blog, accessed on July 29, 2015 (published in Das Magazin on March 21, 2015). 
10. ↑ Jonathan Holland: 'At War' ('Chrieg'): San Sebastian Review. The Hollywood Reporter , September 29, 2014, accessed on March 31, 2015 (English): “A compelling first half is followed by a second half that is disappointingly just violent […] Filmed in the spirit of gritty Euro-miserabilists like the Dardenne Brothers and infused with the same show-all / judge nothing ethos, [...] " 
11. ^ Matthias Greuling: Switzerland needs "Chrieg". Wiener Zeitung , January 27, 2015, accessed on March 31, 2015 . 
12. ↑ Rüdiger Suchsland: Hartes youth drama "Chrieg" wins young talent film award. Berliner Zeitung , January 26, 2015, accessed on March 31, 2015 . 
13. ↑ Christoph Egger: The great anger. Neue Zürcher Zeitung , March 11, 2015, accessed on March 31, 2015 . 
14. ↑ Andres Hutter: In "Chrieg" four young people live their nightmare. SRF , September 30, 2014, accessed March 31, 2015 . 
15. ↑ Romina Loliva: Real Character. Director Simon Jaquemet. Die Zeit , March 12, 2015, accessed on March 31, 2015 . 
16. ^ Stefan Bock: Chrieg (CH 2014). (No longer available online.) Kultura-Extra, February 16, 2015, archived from the original on April 2, 2015 ; accessed on March 31, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
17. ↑ Chrieg. Swiss Films , accessed March 31, 2015 . 
18. ↑ Chrieg. Berlin International Film Festival , accessed on March 31, 2015 . 
19. ↑ Winner 2015. (No longer available online.) Swiss Film Prize, archived from the original on April 2, 2015 ; accessed on March 31, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
20. ^ The winners of the 29th Bolzano Film Festival. April 26, 2015, accessed May 26, 2015 .