SonOhr audio festival
The sonOhr Festival is a festival for radio plays , radio features and experimental audio pieces in Bern . The audience listens to elaborate audio productions together in a darkened cinema or theater hall. The festival includes a competition in which a jury and the audience award prizes to the best productions. Audio productions in all languages that have been produced in Switzerland have been permitted since 2014. With the introduction of the flashstory award, a new category was created exclusively for short audio tracks. The festival has been held annually since the first edition in 2011. It serves as a platform where freelance audio producers, employees of private radio stations and other sound designers can present their audio pieces to a wide audience.
According to its own statements, the association supports the creative and innovative development of the Swiss audio scene. It is the only festival of its kind in Switzerland to date and is primarily financed through subsidies, sponsoring and donations.
history
The festival took place for the first time in 2011 in the Tojo Theater of the alternative cultural center Reithalle, which has been converted into a living room . It was part of the annual solos festival of the non-commercial Bern radio station RaBe . As a result, the festival went independent in order to maintain independence. The sonOhr Hörfestival association was founded in June 2011 . In 2015 the festival was renamed "sonOhr Festival". In 2017 there was a programmatic realignment: every year a current topic in radio journalism is dealt with in depth. In 2017 this was the production and publication of podcasts, in 2018 the festival deals with fake and reality.
Award winners
2011
Audience Award: “Nid wägnäh” by Franz Bigler and Radio Silbergrau
2012
Jury Prize Fiction: “Ds Chamäleon und andersi Gschichta” by Hannes Barfuss and Gabriel Crucitti; Jury Prize Non-Fiction: “Sonic Traces: From The Arab World” by Thomas Burkhalter and Simon Grab; Audience award: “Dr knackigi Gnom” by Christin Glauser and Philippe Graff
2013
Jury Prize Fiction: “WC-Drama” by Gaudenz Trüeb (Lorenz Keller); Jury Prize Non-Fiction: “Culture on the Edge - The Labitzke Areal in Zurich-Altstetten” by Thomas Niederberger and Francesca Nussio; Audience award: “The Electrobard” by Martin Bezzola
2014
Jury Prize Fiction: “Quarantine. The Green Death in Winterthur ”by Elvira Isenring, Sebastian Herzog, Tom Combo, Gion M. Cavelty, Daniel Mezger and Dominik Dusek; Jury Prize Non-Fiction: “Men's Dreams” by Maru Rieben ; Jury Prize Experimental: “Childhood Stories - China 2012” by Regina Dürig and Christian Müller; Audience award: “The Lismer Club, Ruedi + Heinz and the Fallmasche” by Rolf Strub
2015
Jury Prize Fiction: “A day in the life of private radio” by Mirio Bähler and Thierry Lüthy; Jury Prize Non-Fiction: “Put on different pants for this idea” by Daniel Glur; Jury Prize Prix d'Ohr: “Carte postale sonore de La Chaux-de-Fonds” by Abril Padilla; Audience award: “Sound of Silence” by Yvonn Scherrer
2016
Jury Prize Fiction: “Northern Lights - a radio play in mono (tonie)” by Christina Baron; Jury Prize Non-Fiction: “La Nüvla da Pra Davant” by Martin Bezzola; Jury Prize Prix d'Ohr: “Brain Music” by Simon Grab; Audience award: “From waves to waves” by Donat Hofer
2017
Jury Prize Fiction: "Blue Garden" by Andreas Liebmann; Jury Prize Non-Fiction: "Cartolina sonora" by Abril Padilla; Jury Prize Prix d`Ohr: "Yedoma" by Olga Kokcharova and Gianluca Ruggeri; sonOhr Audience Award: "Minutes of an Extended Departure" by The Caretakers; Jury Prize flashstory: "Strom" by Dejan Barac, Eleonora Camizzi, Katarina Tereh