WORDS OF ARTISTS / PORTRAITS  OF ARTISTS

This film is the fruit of an encounter between cinema and the fine arts. Film maker and artist Catherine Gfeller aims her camera at twelve artists and expands their works through a cinematographic perspective. Painting, drawing, sculpture, photography and video are reinterpreted, camera and microphone in hand.  

The film features twelve contemporary Swiss artists. They come from three different linguistic regions and live in Switzerland or abroad. There are six women: Valérie Favre, Renée Levi, Silvie Defraoui, Mariapia Borgnini, Fiorenza Bassetti, and Cécile Wick. And six men: Adrian Schiess, Jules Spinatsch, Alain Huck, Gunter Frentzel, Jean-Luc Manz, and Alexander Hahn. While being filmed in their studios or at exhibitions, they are given free rein to speak, so that they become the protagonists of their works. Their own words, gests and gazes lead us to the essence of their artistic creations and enlighten us on the meaning of their quest. A backdrop of cities and landscapes introduces each portrait, providing a window on New York, Berlin, Lausanne, Zürich, Solothurn, Basel, Chur, Bellinzona and Lugano. The montage, divided and condensed into eight-minute scenes for each artist, alternates shots of the studio with close-ups of paintings and scenes of the artists at work. These twelve portraits illustrate how art enables us to create a singular relationship with the world today. They are of universal value and speak to each one of us.
Screenings:

16 Mars 2018 : Redtory Art Center Guangzhou,China
28 septembre 2017 : Helen Dahm Museum, Oetwil am See, canton Zurïch
18 mai 2017: International Art festival Arsenal, Kyv, Ukraine
06 octobre 2016 : semaine suisse, Médiathèque Uzès, France
08 janvier 2016 : Médiathèque Arthur Batut, Labrugière, France
28 mai 2015 : Musée d'art et d'histoire, Neuchâtel
04 février 2015 : Kunsthaus, Zürich
30 septembre 2014 : Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg
05 juin 2014 : Villa Bernasconi, Grand-Lancy, Genève
27 mai 2014 : Centre d'art La Panacée, Montpellier
15 mai 2014 : Université Neuchâtel, Faculté des lettres, Neuchâtel
23 avril 2014 : Hochschule für Kunst und Gestaltung Basel FHNW, Basel
10 avril 2014: Fondation suisse, Cité internationale, Paris
02 avril 2014 : Galerie C, Neuchâtel
27 mars 2014 : KunstZeugHaus, Rapperswil, Zürich
19 janvier 2014 : Télévision suisse SRF : Sternstunden Kunst
20 janvier 2014: Cinéma Rabelais, Festival cinéma suisse, Montpellier
31 octobre 2013 : Musée Beaux-Arts, Lausanne
29 octobre 2013 : Cinéma Iride (Museo cantonale d'arte), Lugano
24 octobre 2013 : Ambassade Suisse, Paris
23 octobre 2013 : Centre de la photographie, Genève (BAC)
05 septembre 2013 : Kunstmuseum, Bern