Country: Switzerland
Year: 1964
Duration: 20'
La Suisse s'interroge is made of five very short films (La Suisse est belle, Problèmes, La course au bonheur, Croissance, Ton pays est dans le monde) that Henry Brandt made in 1964
for the Swiss National Exposition in Lausanne. Among alpine landscapes and mountain lakes, finance and large industries, various social problems are lurking in Switzerland, including immigration and xenophobia. As it races toward happiness and progress, Switzerland reflects on its problems, at a moment when events and phenomena are becoming global and international. Restored by the Cinémathèque Suisse.
Biography
film director
Henry Brandt
(La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, 1921, Saint-Ambroix, France, 1998) entered the
worlds of photography and film as an autodidact until, in 1953, he made his
first medium-length film, Les nomades du soleil, in collaboration with the Ethnographic Museum of Neuchâtel; the film was awarded
best ethnographic film at the Locarno Film Festival in1955. He next made numerous documentaries, primarily on commission, including Quand nous étions petits enfants (1960) for the Société pédagogique neuchâteloise,
which also received an award in Locarno. In 1964, he madeLa Suisse
s'interroge for the Swiss National Exposition, offering a critical view of his homeland, and continued his career as a documentary filmmaker.
FILMOGRAFIA
Valangin. Découverte et présentation d'une bourg (coregia Cyril Grize, doc,
cm, 1952), Les nomades de soleil (doc, mm, 1953), Les hommes des châteaux (doc, cm, 1954), Les seigneurs de la forêt (coregia Heinz Seilmann, doc, 1958), Quand nous étions petits enfants (doc, 1960), Madagascar au bout du monde (doc, 1960), Puorquoi pas vous? (doc, cm, 1962), La change des autres (doc, cm, 1962), Les hommes de la montre (doc, cm, 1963), Opération Banyarwanda (doc, cm, 1964), La Suisse s'interroge (doc, cm, 1964), Voyages chez les vivants (doc, 1970), Terre à vendre (doc, cm, 1973), La dernière printemps (doc, 1977), Eudoxie (doc, cm, 1977), Le bâton et la carotte (mm, 1979), Jamais je ne t'oublierai (coregia Jaqueline Brandt, doc, cm, 1981), Nous étions les rois du monde. Chronique de l’année 1983 au Val de Travers (coregia Jaqueline Brandt, doc, 1985), Le blé des pharaons (coregia Jaqueline Brandt, doc, cm, 1987).
Cast
& Credits
DIRECTOR: Henry Brandt. CINEMATOGRAPHY: Jean Bernasconi. FILM EDITING: Henry Brandt. MUSIC: Julien-François Zbinden. SOUND: Henry Brandt. CAST: Corinne Coderey, Bernard Junod, Christophe Brandt. PRODUCTION: Exposition nationale suisse de Lausanne.
CONTACTS: Cinémathèque Suisse, Chicca Bergonzi chicca.bergonzi@cinematheque.ch
