Swiss Films Previews, the only spread of national movies at Switzerland’s Visions du Réel, the country’s leading doc festival.
Presented via excerpts at a two-hour showcase on Wednesday, three further titles – “Kalari – the Martial Art of Female Power,” “The Boy from the River Drina” and “Spheres” – underscored the strength in depth of documentary filmmaking in Switzerland and at least in this year’s Previews, a leitmotif.
In an era of adverse circumstance, the doc features highlight figures who rebel, whether against Russia’s war on the Ukraine (“Dom”), climate change (“Iceman”), homophobia in Palermo, gender violence (“Kalari”), the Srebrenica massacre (“Boy”) or, in the case of Daniel Zimmermann, director of “Spheres,” stock narrative.
The doc features’ protagonists rebel, moreover, with courage, good humor, imagination, and above all resilience. “Quir,” for example, captures footage of gay couple Massimo Milani and Gino Campanella years ago celebrating symbolically the first gay marriage in Italy.
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