Condor Films

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Condor Films AG
legal form Corporation
founding 1947
Seat Zurich , SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland 
management Hans Syz
Branch Film and TV production
As of December 17, 2019

Condor Films is an Oscar ( Academy Award ) awarded Swiss media company that produces television and cinema commercials, documentaries and feature films, the conception and production of corporate films, corporate TV and interactive multimedia solutions and TV formats. The focus is on the creation and production of audiovisual content and the cross-media production of moving images for marketing and communication purposes, TV and for digital platforms. The main location of the company is the Studio Bellerive in Zurich .

The Swiss TV production company FaroTV is wholly owned by Condor Films AG and uses some of its infrastructure, but appears in the market under its own name.

history

Documentary film with Pablo Picasso (1973)
Shooting TV series in the Bellerive studio

Condor Films was founded in 1947 by Heinrich Fueter as Condor-Film AG . A room at Seefeldstrasse 35 in Zurich served as office space. The furniture was made available on loan from a neighboring gallery. Anne-Marie Blanc , who was married to Fueter, put a considerable part of the savings into the newly founded company. Within a few years, Condor Films developed into the leading Swiss commissioned film productions. From the end of the 1950s, Condor Films became a vital mainstay for a large number of feature film directors and film technicians in Switzerland in difficult years, thanks to which the financial uncertainties of the feature film business could be managed. In 1964 the son of the company founder, Martin A. Fueter, founded the Condor Commercials business unit (at that time: advertising films) and thus became a pioneer of advertising films in Switzerland.

In 1956, the expansion to Germany took place with Deutsche Condor GmbH , in which Günther Stapenhorst was a senior partner with a minority share. From 1959 on, Condor Films pursued the plan to operate a film studio for film and television in Leutschenbach together with the Swiss television station DRS . Despite support from the city of Zurich and the establishment of a film studio AG, in which Lazar Wechsler , the construction pioneer Ernst Göhner , Migros founder Gottlieb Duttweiler and Artur Brauner were involved, the project failed. In 1961 Condor Films sold the German subsidiary in order to continue working the market in Germany directly from Switzerland. In the same year the company founded "Condor Finanz AG" in order to enable large-scale investments in film and television in the future. In 1973 Condor Films took over Nicofilm SA from Geneva as part of a spatial and technical reorganization. In 1981 Condor Films acquired the rival company Rincovision from Ringier , together with the right to continue using the name Rincovision until 1984.

The Condor Films AG has throughout its history also has subsidiaries in Los Angeles, Berlin and Bern, as well as with the brands Condor Productions , Condor Communications , Condor Corporate , Condor Commercials , Condor features , Condor Audiovisuals , Studio Bellerive and Condor Pictures and Condor Documentaries in Appearance entered. In 2009 the appearance was standardized under a new umbrella brand strategy.

Until 1986 the company was owned by the founding family and some minority shareholders from the circle of friends of the founding family. From 1987 to 2005, the Zurich media company Tamedia held the majority of the shares. In 2005, the shares in Tamedia were taken over by a group around managing director Kristian Widmer as part of a management buyout . The Swiss TV production company FaroTV has also been a wholly-owned subsidiary of the group since 2006. Managing Director Kristian Widmer has held the majority of shares in the company since 2008, and the founding family still holds a minority stake. To date, the company has produced over 963 commercials, 1,256 commissioned films and 55 feature films and has received an Oscar for best foreign language film for ' Journey of Hope ' by Xavier Koller .

In 2013, the company produced an episode for a Chinese TV series for the China-based Taurus Group for the first time in its company's history.

Have participated in films and works by Condor Films a. Gérard Depardieu , Maria Schneider , Richard Schweizer , Max Haufler , Peter Ustinov , Ursula Andress , Therese Giehse , René Boeniger, Georges von Weissenfluh, Nicolas Gessner , Ulrich Kündig , Paul Hubschmid , Paul Spahn , Cés Keizer , Margrit Läubli , Ruedi Walter , Markus Imhoof , Emil Steinberger , Liselotte Pulver , Stefanie Glaser , Zarli Carigiet , Anne-Marie Blanc , Dani Levy , Michael Gwisdek , Niki Reiser , Michael Ballhaus , Jean Reno and John Malkovich and world-famous sporting greats like Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka .

In December 2019, the banker Hans Syz announced the takeover of the majority of shares in the company. In an interview with the Neue Zürcher Zeitung NZZ, he announced that he not only wanted to revive the activities in the feature film sector in the future, but also that FaroTV would be outsourced as a legally independent corporate unit, as would the corporate films as Condor Corporate AG.

Associations and partnerships

Condor Films is a founding member of the International Quorum of Motion Picture Producers IQMPP and a member of the Swissfilm Association SFA. Hollywood directors Nicolas Winding Refn and Asger Leth are exclusively represented for Switzerland by Condor for commercials.

education

Condor Films regularly offers young talents the opportunity to prove themselves as interns in the film and TV industry. Since 2012 the company has also been an apprentice company and trains media specialists.

Filmography (selection)

Mount Everest 1952

Among other things, Condor Films is responsible for:

Likewise Condor Films by her daughter FaroTV actively involved in proprietary formats such as television (current selection):

as well as TV service productions such as:

and in event TV productions such as:

Awards (selection)

Ceremony Academy Award (1991)
  • 1949 Venice International Film Biennale: First prize for the film And your brother?
  • 1970 Cannes: Two of the four Golden Palms awarded in the Grand Prix of Advertising go to Condor-Film AG.
  • 1981 New York: 3 × gold for Via Retica con musica , Andante and Fenjal Provence at the International Film and TV Festival of New York.
  • 1991 Los Angeles: Academy Award (Oscar) for Journey of Hope (best foreign language film)
  • 2010 World Luxury Award, gold medal for Spirit of Navigation
  • 2011 Art Directors Club Switzerland, 5 awards (from a total of 14 award-winning TV / cinema spots)
  • 2011 Cannes Lion in bronze for More than Mountains (client: Switzerland Tourism, agency: Spillmann / Felser / Leo Burnett)

additional

From 2015 to the beginning of 2017, Condor Films was the publisher of Filmpuls , an online magazine that was also distributed to customers of the company as a high-quality print magazine during this time. In 2017 the magazine was completely detached from the founding company and transferred to its own company.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Company website, Version D, June 10, 2015
  2. ↑ Swiss pioneers in business and technology: Heinrich Fueter. Vol. 95, p. 51, ISBN 978-3-909059-56-0
  3. ^ Herve Dumont: History of Swiss Film. In: Swiss Film Archive. 1987
  4. ^ Anne Cueno: Anne-Marie Blanc. Zurich 2009, p. 54
  5. ↑ Pioneer of the luxury class. In: Weltwoche . No. 2/2010, p. 63
  6. ↑ Swiss pioneers in business and technology: Heinrich Fueter. Vol. 95, pp. 50 f., ISBN 978-3-909059-56-0
  7. ↑ Swiss pioneers in business and technology: Heinrich Fueter. Vol. 95, p. 49, ISBN 978-3-909059-56-0
  8. ↑ Swiss pioneers in business and technology: Heinrich Fueter. Vol. 95, p. 51, ISBN 978-3-909059-56-0
  9. ↑ Swiss pioneers in business and technology: Heinrich Fueter. Vol. 95, p. 65, ISBN 978-3-909059-56-0
  10. ↑ Swiss pioneers in business and technology: Heinrich Fueter. Vol. 95, p. 54, ISBN 978-3-909059-56-0
  11. ↑ 1987: Founding of a Condor subsidiary in Los Angeles ( Memento from August 30, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ↑ 2001: Founding of a Condor subsidiary in Berlin ( Memento of August 30, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ↑ Change of name. Traditional company calls itself again "Condor Films". In: persoenlich.com . June 9, 2006
  14. ^ Condor Films. Production company for feature films founded. , on persoenlich.com. , May 26, 2008
  15. ↑ Thomas Binotto: Passion for the film. In: Filmbulletin. October 8, 2010, pp. 36-39
  16. ↑ Personal : The Swiss business magazine for communication. Edition November 14, 2008
  17. ↑ China Calling: New Milestone for Condor Films. ( Memento from August 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) In: Condor Films website. April 11, 2013 (press release)
  18. ^ 60 Years of Condor Films: Photographs 1947–2006. Self-published by Condor Films, September 2007, p. 5
  19. ↑ Condor is supposed to swing himself back on the screen
  20. ↑ Hollywood directors are new to Switzerland. ( Memento from August 20, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) In: Condor Films website. April 23, 2012 (press release)
  21. ↑ Condor Films trains media specialists. In: Klein Report. Retrieved August 9, 2012
  22. ^ Condor Films. Creates a mediamatics apprenticeship. In: persoenlich.com. August 8, 2012
  23. ^ Julia Marx: Building the Gherkin. In: Cinema . November 3, 2006 (review)
  24. ^ 'Building the Gherkin' wins Prize at the Montreal Festival of Films. In: Fosters + Partners news archive. 2006
  25. ↑ “Observer TV” starts on February 20, 2013 on SRF Zwei. ( Memento from September 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) In: Werbewoche. January 7, 2013
  26. ↑ The new TV kitty. In: look . March 3, 2012, p. 24
  27. ^ A b c Awards 1947–2010 ( Memento from April 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive ). In: Condor Films website
  28. ^ Nominees & Winners for the 63rd Academy Awards ( Memento March 9, 2010 in the Internet Archive ). In: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences website
  29. ^ Winners & Finalists 2010 ( Memento from November 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ). In: Website of the World Luxury Award, Monaco (PDF; 3 kB)
  30. ^ Medal table ADC Switzerland
  31. ^ Film Lions Winner 2011. In: Website of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity

Coordinates: 47 ° 21 '45 "  N , 8 ° 32' 52.4"  E ; CH1903:  683795  /  246330