Simon Aeby
Simon Aeby (born December 17, 1954 in Bern ) is a Swiss director , producer and screenwriter . He was awarded the Max Ophüls Prize .
Life
Simon Aeby was born on December 17, 1954 as the son of Sam (†) and Maja Aeby in Bern. The Bernese took an early interest in filming. He always had the film camera with him. For professional reasons, the family first lived in Barcelona , then in Basel (Switzerland). After graduating from high school, at the age of 24 he became a production manager and later a commercial director for Condor Films in Zurich (Switzerland). In 1982 he founded GLASS FILMS, Zurich. He later moved to New York City (USA) with his wife Beatrix, where he opened a production office for independent feature films in Robert De Niro's Tribecca Film Center . His two sons Kim and Nicola were both born in New York. He then moved to Ibiza with his family , where he concentrated on scriptwriting. Today he lives in Basel, where he runs his own production office, Simon Aeby Films GmbH .
Movies
Simon Aeby directed a total of four feature films and one short film.
A slice of pizza
After numerous commercials, including the internationally acclaimed Swatch commercials, he made the short film A Slice of Pizza in 1998 . The film is about an overweight taxi driver in New York and you experience the digestion of a pizza he eats from an inside perspective. The short film was shown at three festivals: the Diploma Aspen Film Festival, the Montecatini Film Festival and the Solothurn Film Festival .
Three Below Zero
Aeby's first feature film, the psychological thriller Three Below Zero, published in 1998 , was awarded the Max Ophüls Prize . Wes Bentley , Kate Walsh and Judith Roberts can be seen in the leading roles . This film is also set in New York. The thriller was also shown at the DGA Independent Filmmakers Screenings in Los Angeles. The film was positively received by the critics.
The flag of the seven upright ones
In 2001 Aeby released his Swiss film Das Fähnlein der Seven Upright (aka THE REBEL) in cinemas. Actors include the pop singer Kisha , the professional snowboarder Fabien Rohrer and the popular actor Erich Vock . The film is based on the novel of the same name by Gottfried Keller . The romantic drama made it into the Best Swiss theatrical box office release in 2001 and ran in the Official Competition Tokyo Film Festival.
The Headsman
In 2005 Aeby's film Shadow of the Sword hit the cinemas successfully. The film is cast with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau ( Nightwatch ) , Steven Berkoff ( Octopussy ) , Anastasia Griffith ( Alfie ) and other well-known actors. Critics rated the film differently, positive was spoken of a "respectable success" and the film was even compared with Gladiator and The Name of the Rose (film) .
Dinu
In 2013, Simon Aeby wrote the screenplay for Dinu , a TV feature film that he also directed. The film is set in the Swiss wrestling scene and has been compared to Rocky by critics . After the successful first broadcast on SRF, Dinu received a nationwide cinema release.
Others
- The successful German film Tattoo originally came from Aeby's pen.
- Aeby starred in Viktor Vogel - Commercial Man .
- Simon Aeby discovered the US actor Wes Bentley on the streets of New York for his first feature film, Three Below Zero .
Web links
- Official website
- Homepage of the film The Headsman
- Simon Aeby in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Simon Aeby at filmportal.de
- Simon Aeby at swissfilms.ch
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Aeby, Simon |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss director, producer and screenwriter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 17th December 1954 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bern |