With his friend's diary, Ivo Zen tells the story of his generation - a story of friendship and the longing to fly higher than anyone else. The film plunges into a time when both were on the threshold of adulthood. The writing of texts and the production of pictures was central. Like many young people from the 1990s generation, Martin and Ivo were torn between the impulse to expect more from life than it could offer and the desire to break out. The transition into adult life was a threshold that was accompanied not only by hopes but also by losses and fears. Ivo Zen survived. Martin Felix died of his addiction at the age of 34. The question of "why" fades into the background. Beyond the chronicle of a youth, Ivo Zen's search for traces becomes a mirror of a society marked by prosperity and order, in which denial and self-destruction still have something tempting about them today.
Synopsis
Protagonists
Jean-Claude Campell,
Ivan Beer
Martin Felix
Ivo Zen
Christine Felix
Katarina V.
Martin Ghisletti
Director
Ivo Zen was born and raised in Santa Maria, in the Val Müstair. He left the remote valley at the age of 15 to go to high school in Chur. After a somewhat turbulent gap year, he enrolled to study architecture at the ETH in Zurich, where he became acquainted with video and photography. He quit after two years and worked in a bookstore. During this time he started making experimental films. He began his Super 8 film journal in 1996. Ivo Zen graduated from the Geneva film school in 2003. The following year he co-founded the independent production house Alva Film. He gave several workshops in documentary filmmaking at the University of Art and Design (HEAD) in Geneva. In 2010 he became president of the group “Cineasts independents rumantschs”, promoting the interests of Romansh filmmakers. He has twice been the recipient of the Graubünden canton’s grant for artists. Ivo Zen is married and lives in Zurich with his wife and two children.
Awards
Max Ophüls
Preis 2017
Solothurner
Filmtage 2017
Credits
With
Ivo Zen
Christine Felix
Ivan Beer
Martin Ghisletti
Katarina V.
Lorenz Felix
Jean-Claude Campell
Marry
Philipp
Director
Ivo Zen
Writers
Ivo Zen
Hercli Bundi
Editing
Tania Stöcklin
DOP
Ulrich Grossenbacher
Location Sound
Ivo Schläpfer, Mike Lawson
Music
Ilja Komarov, Trixa Arnold
Music Archives
Disco Doom, Fragment
Voice Martin German
Flurin Giger
Voice Ivo
Henrik Zimmermann
Voice Ivo English
Kaleo La Belle
Producer
Hercli Bundi
Production
Mira Film
Associate Producer
Vadim Jendreyko
Production Manager
Peter Zwierko
Marketing and Outreach
Susanne Guggenberger
Online/DCP
Andromeda Film
Color Grading
Paul Avondet
Sound Mix
Daniel Hobi
Mastering
Christof Steinmann, Magnetix
Coproducer
Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen SRG SSR
Commissioner SRF
Urs Augstburger
With financial support of
Zürcher Filmstiftung
Kulturförderung Kanton Graubünden
Fachausschuss Film und Medienkunst BS/BL
Kulturfonds Suissimage
Bundesamt für Kultur
Succès Passage Antenne
Ernst Göhner Stiftung
UBS Kulturstiftung
Stiftung Bündner Suchthilfe
Stiftung Stavros S. Niarchos, Chur
Stadt Chur
Beitragsfonds der Graubündner Kantonalbank
Developped within Sources 2
Technical Details
Resolution
HD
Format
DCP
Duration
78min
Aspect Ratio
16:9
Color
Yes
Year
2016
Original Language
German, English
Subtitles
German, English, French
Country
Switzerland
ISAN
0000-0004-1676-0000-Y-0000-0000-9
