Management and administration
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Co-Managing Directors Rachel Schmid Nicole Schroeder |
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Rachel Schmid (*1964) studied economics, German philology and drama at the universities of Zurich, Berkeley and Paris. She also has a postgraduate degree in cultural management from the University of Hamburg. She began her professional career in 1987 as a producer of stage plays and films, before taking up an international training programme to become a script development expert in 1999. As such, she has counselled countless production companies, film funds, training programmes and festivals in Switzerland and abroad in connection with project selection and script development. From 2005 to 2019, she worked as director of MEDIA Desk Suisse, deputy director of the Masters programme in film at ZHdK (Zurich University of the Arts), the Swiss Federal Office of Culture’s delegate with Eurimages (European Cinema Support Fund), and as a committee member for various film funds (incl. the Zurich Film Foundation and the Luxembourg Film Fund). She is committed to diversity in the film branch and a member of several commissions on behalf of gender equality.
Nicole Schroeder (*1967) studied Law and Art Education and graduated with a M.A. in the latter field. She started in the film industry as a short film award organiser and open-air cinema programmer. For nine years she worked as 1st assistant director on national and international film sets, followed by four years as line producer. From 2008 to 2018, she taught regularly at the film department of the Zurich University of the Arts. She began her work as head of department at FOCAL in 2012 and realised various events on film technology, script development, transmedia, digital media, gender / diversity and innovation. She founded the transdisciplinary department CrossFOCAL in 2016. She is a co-initiator of the first Swiss film study "The Gender Question" and the founder of the SWAN network. She is particularly interested in developing ideas, establishing cooperations and networks as well as creating equal opportunities. In her work, she is committed to the upcoming generation and supports a national-level dialogue on audiovisual narratives. |
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Anne Perrenoud General administration; administrative coordination of the European training programs. |
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Cécile Verpoorten
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Sandrine Oberli
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Translations, Stage Pool Administration |
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Lea Gerber Born in Solothurn in 1982. After training as a professional photographer, she made her debut in the film industry in 2004. She worked on 30 features, including DER FREUND (2007), DER VERDINGBUB (2010), EINE WEN IIG, DR DÄLLEBACH KARI (2011), and on various commercials, always as a production manager. From 2015 to 2018, she organised technical seminars and workshops on behalf of FOCAL. During her professional career, she also supervised several internships on film shootings. She is now involved in FOCAL’s STAGE POOL where she promotes sustainable young talents.
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Nicolas Monguzzi Websites administration, webdesign, graphic design. |
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Benjamin Veillon Websites administration. |
Department Heads
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Fred Guillaume Fred Guillaume was born in Fribourg (Switzerland) in 1976. After obtaining a Baccalaureate in Literature in 1998, he turned to the animated film realm, producing a first film, jointly with his brother Samuel, in 1998: Le petit manchot qui voulait une glace [The little penguin who wanted an ice cream]. The two went on to fulfill several film orders, advertisements, scientific films and shorts for "Cinemagination", their own production company. From 2003 to 2007, they embarked on their first full-length feature film Max & Co (Switzerland, France, UK), which travelled to over 20 countries and won, most notably, the Audience Award at the Annecy Festival. In parallel with their movies, Fred Guillaume collaborated on several projects for shows and installations; he also invited public interest through a children's film club, La lanterne magique, setting up various workshops and lectures as well. He is highly interested in the latest technologies, for which he has developed several tools and joined various research projects in a narrative vein. |
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Jessica Hefti Jessica Hefti was born in Zurich in 1989. During her apprenticeship with a publishing house in Zurich, she worked as a freelance cultural journalist for several regional newspapers. Due to her interest in telling stories, she then studied Documentary Film at the ‘Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg’ (Germany). At that point she came to realize that as much as she loved working on films, she enjoyed even more following through on other people's good ideas and lending support to filmmakers. She obtained a Master's in Arts Management from the University of Zurich for Applied Sciences in 2013. After five years as a freelance production manager and assistant director for film, event and communication projects, she is now working as a TV Producer for Zodiac Pictures in Zurich. |
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Anna Luif Anna Luif is of Hungarian descent. She was born in Zurich in 1972. |
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Head of the Acting Department for French-speaking Switzerland / Assistant in the Department Directing Fiction Film for French-speaking Switzerland Born in 1966. After her film directing studies at INSAS (Brussels), she initially worked as a production assistant and as a first assistant. |
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Edgar Hagen Born in Basel in 1958. He studied philosophy and German philology at the University of Basel and at the Free University of Berlin. In 1987 he obtained a Master of Arts from the Free University of Berlin. He then worked as a journalist and dramatic advisor. He has been an independent documentary filmmaker and author since 1989. He made the cinema documentaries Zeit der Titanen (2001), Someone Beside You (2007) and Journey to the Safest Place on Earth (2013). Since 2000, various teaching activities in the field of cinema and documentary narration. He has been a member of the Board of the Swiss Filmmakers Association (ARF/FDS) since 2010. |
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Vanja Baumberger Born in Geneva in 1962. After completing her studies in the film department of the École Supérieure d'Art Visuel (currently: HEAD) [graduate school] film, she continued mainly in the production field. She participated in the Sputnik art-house movie theater's collective build-up and programming. She also coordinated and managed the Festival Black Movie '91 tour; was a location manager trainee on a film by Claude Goretta and on one by Moshé Mizrahi. She worked as a production assistant for Alhena Films (Roi Blanc, Dame Rouge by Sergei Bodrov), for Apsara Productions (Stairs by Peter Greenaway),and New Morning Productions (HD recordings of the 1994 jazz concerts). Further still, she was Production Director for a short-film series for the M6 TV channel, and for La Rencontre by the Swiss film director Irène Lichtenstein. |
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Head of the Acting department for German-speaking and Italian-speaking Switzerland Barbara Terpoorten, born in 1974 in Visp/CH, obtained her acting degree from the ZHdK (Zurich University of the Arts). She subsequently acted in several theatres in Switzerland and Germany such as the Schauspielhaus Zurich, Maxim Gorki Theatre in Berlin and the Schauspielhaus in Hamburg. From 2000 to 2008, she was a member of the artist group 400asa. |
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Head of the Acting Department for French-speaking Switzerland / Assistant in the Department Directing Fiction Film for French-speaking Switzerland Born in 1966. After her film directing studies at INSAS (Brussels), she initially worked as a production assistant and as a first assistant. |
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Carola Stern
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Jacqueline Surchat Jacqueline Surchat began her career with the 7-minute feature Au bout du fil, which obtained the school’s best film award in 1989. Her Utopie hors-jeu received the 1992 Award of the Public at the International Comedy Festival in Vevey. Her 30-minute feature Le bonheur à cloche-pied (1994) received the Golden Unicorn at Bludenz and the Best Short Film Award at Upsala. |
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Board
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Foundation Council President |
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Séverine Barde Born in 1966 in Geneva, Switzerland. After obtaining her higher education entrance qualification (Latin section) from Collège Sismondi in Geneva, she studied film between 1987 and 1989 at the “Institut des Arts de Diffusion” (IAD) in Belgium. She first worked as a 2nd and then 1st assistant camera. From 1998 she has been a director of photography in feature and documentary projects. In 2018 she directed her first documentary film, GRETA GRATOS. |
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Anke Beining-Wellhausen Anke Beining-Wellhausen was born in Germany and studied Law and Political Sciences in Bonn (DE), Geneva and at Ohio State University (USA). She holds a PhD in law and is admitted to the bar in New York and Germany. |
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Ivan Madeo Born in 1976 in Berne (CH). After graduating as a film journalist and psychologist at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, he worked as a creative director and producer for some of the largest advertising agencies in Switzerland and Italy. He then directed short films until he co-founded the two production companies Contrast Film Berne and Contrast Film Zurich which produced several award-winning fiction films and documentaries since 2010: THE CIRCLE (2014), WONDERLAND (2015), MIDNIGHT RUNNER (2018), STORM (2019) and many others. Ivan was a jury member at several prestigious film festivals (Biennale Venice, Molodist Kyiv, FICG Guadalajara, Filmfest Hamburg), was Switzerland’s ‘Producer on the Move’ in Cannes and is an EAVE graduate. Besides, he is a board member of the Swiss Filmproducers’ Association SFP as well as a member of the European Film Academy, the Swiss Film Academy and the Expert Commission for Documentaries of the Swiss Federal Office of Culture (BAK). |
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Gianclaudio Meyer Born in 1960 in Bellinzona, Switzerland, Gianclaudio Meyer studied electronics, marketing, communication, and finance in Zurich, St. Gallen and Klagenfurt/Austria. He holds a degree in electronic engineering from ETH, a License in economics and a Master of arts in banking and finance from the University of St. Gallen. Later on, he taught telecommunication as well as image and sound technologies at the University of Applied Sciences of St. Gallen, created and produced animated films and was one of the experts of the Swiss Federal film fund’s grant committee. Today, he is as partner and executive producer at the animation studios Animagination Sàrl in Lausanne and Megaron Animation in St. Gallen. Besides, Gianclaudio is a Board member of the Swiss Animation Film Group GSFA/STFG. |
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Bettina Oberli Bettina Oberli was born in Interlaken in 1972 and studied filmmaking at the Zurich University of the Arts. Thereafter she worked in New York for the directors Hal Hartley and Steve Buscemi. After her awarded debut with IM NORDWIND (2004) she wrote and directed LATE BLOOMERS in 2006. The film became the most succesful Swiss film over the last 30 years and was sold all over the world. In 2009 she directed TANNÖD – THE MURDER FARM in Germany. The film was shown in theatres and at festivals around the world and won several awards. In 2013 she directed her first theatre play, ANNA KARENINA, at the Theater Basel. Back on the film sets, she directed LOVELY LOUISE (2013), the two-part TV movie PRIVATE BANKING (2017) and her first French speaking feature film LE VENT TOURNE, Her last film, WANDA, is currently in production. |
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Michael Steiger Michael Steiger was born in Berne in 1965. After receiving his degree (Matura) at the Ecole de Commerce in Neuchâtel, he studied business at the European Business School in Reichhartshausen (D) and enjoyed exchange semesters in London and Paris. In 2005, he became general manager of C-Films in Zurich and co-owner in 2006. In July 2015, Michael Steiger and Anita Wasser joined Hans Syz’ Turnus Film as producers and partners. Michael Steiger produced many box office hits like NIGHT TRAIN TO LISBON by Bille August, YOUTH by Paolo Sorrentino, I AM THE KEEPER by Sabine Boss, THE FOSTER BOY by Markus Imboden as well as many TV Movies, like TATORT, DIE AKTE GRÜNINGER by Alain Gsponer and UPLOAD by Tobias Ineichen. The productions RASCALS ON THE ROAD, GROUNDING – THE LAST DAYS OF SWISSAIR, THE FOSTER BOY and NIGHT TRAIN TO LISBON count among the biggest box-office successes in recent Swiss film history. |
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Sven Wälti Born in 1972 in Fribourg, Sven Wälti studied law at the University of Fribourg and completed further training in political communication and cultural management. Thereafter, he worked a collaborator of the legal advice service of SUISSIMAGE (Swiss Authors' Rights Cooperative for Audiovisual Works) and became managing director of Cinésuisse, the umbrella organisation of the Swiss film and audiovisual industry. From 2007 to 2010 he also worked as a correspondent for Cinébulletin. Since April 2012, Sven Wält has been in charge of SRG SSR’s co-productions at a general management level ( SRG SSR - Swiss broadcasting corporation). He coordinates all of SRG's film funding activities within the framework Pacte de l'audiovisuel, the coproduction agreement between SRG SSR and the independent Swiss film industry. Besides, he is a member of the Federal Film Commission and of the ARTE’s Programme Committee. |
Members of the Foundation Council
Founders
- ARF/FDS Association suisse des scénaristes et réalisateurs de films
- GSFA Groupement suisse du film d'animation
- SSFV Syndicat suisse film et vidéo
- ASITIS Association suisse des industries techniques de l'image et du son
- SFP Swiss film producers association
- SFA Swissfilm Association
- ASJC Association suisse des journalistes cinématographiques
- ACS Association cinématographique suisse
- fds filmdistribution suisse
- PROCINEMA Association suisse des exploitants et distributeurs de films
Further members
- SSM Syndicat suisse des mass media
- Cinélibre Association suisse des ciné-clubs et des cinémas à but non lucratif
- Fonction : Cinéma Association professionnelle pour le cinéma indépendant
- GARP Groupe Auteurs, Réalisateurs, Producteurs
- IG Groupe d'intérêt des producteurs indépendants de films suisses
- HEAD Haute école d'art et de design, Genève, Département cinéma
- écal École cantonale d'art de Lausanne, Unité cinéma
- ZHdK Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, Departement Darstellende Künste und Film
- SSA Société Suisse des Auteurs
- SUISSIMAGE Coopérative suisse pour les droits d'auteurs d'œuvres audiovisuelles
- SRG SSR Société suisse de radiodiffusion et télévision