Robert Blum

In postwar Germany, a displaced Czech boy, separated from his family during wartime, is befriended by an American GI while the boy's mother desperately searches for him.

Provincial shop owner Jakob Stäubli and his wife Frieda are looking forward to celebrating Christmas together with their daughter Nelly. But Nelly doesn't come. She prefers to celebrate in the city in the company of her new boyfriend André, a "better gentleman." The saddened Stäublis decide to sell their shop and move to Zurich as well. As they explore the city together after the move, the two country bumpkins find themselves in all sorts of turbulent situations. Father Stäubli is also exposed to erotic temptations when his daughter's lover sends a woman after him to get money out of him.

Escaping a Nazi prison train in war-torn Italy, an American and a British soldier set out for the Swiss border and find themselves leading a multi-national party of refugees for the Italian underground.

Heidi, a young orphan girl living with her aunt in Frankfurt, is forced to move to the Swiss Alps to live with her ornery grandfather. At first, he resents her presence, but, after a short while, Heidi manages to pierce his gruff exterior, and the two become close. She also befriends a young shepherd named Peter. After three years, Heidi's aunt arrives and demands Heidi's return to Frankfurt.

The farmer Christen, his wife Änneli, their sons Resli and Christeli, and their daughter Annelisi live together harmoniously on the Liebiwyl farm. The harmony is disrupted when Christen allows himself to be persuaded by the deceitful village clerk to speculate with his ward's money. As a result, all the money is lost, and the defrauded farmer has to pay the community for the damage out of his own pocket. This angers Änneli, whose great willingness to help is thwarted by Christen, who is becoming increasingly stingy. One harsh word leads to another, and soon the couple is facing a shambles. The children also suffer from the unfriendly atmosphere at home. Only a visit to church on Pentecost and the corresponding sermon make reconciliation possible.

A serious Swiss melodrama/documentary about abortion, marketed as a sexy exploitation movie in the US. The film contains real medical footage.

At the end of the Second World War, orphans of various nationalities come together at the Pestalozzi Children's Village in Trogen. When the order arrives from Poland that the Polish children must return to their country, it comes as a shock to 13-year-old Andrzey: he doesn't want to leave Anja, for whom he has developed a strong affection. The two children decide to flee and go into hiding...

Soviet, British, French and American allies patrol post-war Vienna.

Der 10. Mai (The Tenth of May) was the date in 1940 that Hitler invaded the Low Countries: Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg. Neutral Switzerland, which hadn't experienced a war since the 14th century, hurriedly fortified its borders with battalions of inexperienced soldiers. The panic, confusion and isolated acts of courage which occurred on that fateful day are re-created in this Swiss docudrama. The story is "personalized" by concentrating on a fugitive German soldier (Heinz Reincke) who falls in love with the Swiss girl (Linda Geiser) who shelters him. Produced on a bare-minimum budget, Der 10. Mai is impressive more for its sincerity and raw energy than for its actual cinematic merits.

A sailor on leave meets a beautiful girl on the ski slopes of Switzerland.

The titular Marie-Louise is a young French lass who is evacuated to Switzerland when her country is overrun by the Nazis. Suffering a nervous breakdown, she is given comfort and shelter by a wealthy family. Unfortunately, living in the lap of luxury makes Marie-Louise hesitant to return home to her mother and war torn home. Eventually the girl comes to her senses, but it isn't easy.

A policeman is not convinced that the prime suspect in a murder case is realty guilty and so decides to reinvestigate the case, despite the lack of co-operation from locals.

Michael D'Asaro was a world ranked saber fencer before becoming a collegiate championship coach. He was a man constantly in search of reinvention who taught life lessons through the medium of fencing.

The trials of the wealthy Emmentaler farming family Jowäger, adapted from the 19th century novel of the same name by Jeremias Gotthelf (pen-name of Albert Bitzius), which was also published in two parts.

Matthias is the illegitimate son of a factory worker. He lives as an indentured child labourer at his dictatorial aunt’s remote guesthouse. The only thing he knows in life are hard work and hard punches. After a sudden death, the unhappy boy finds the opportunity to make his way to his mother. In collaboration with SRF, Cinémathèque suisse, Memoriav and Praesens Film, ZFF once again presents a freshly restored version of a Swiss cinema classic. This 1941 literary adaptation is an almost forgotten jewel of Swiss film history that offers an impressive insight into Eastern Switzerland’s embroidery industry. Born in 1930, a later chapter of the main actor Röbi Rapp’s life was portrayed in the multi-award winning docufiction DER KREIS.

While on a longer business trip, a wannabe poet urges his beautiful but more simple wife to answer his overly swollen love letters. With no idea how to respond she forwards the letters to a new young school teacher to use his answers instead...

Gilberte Montavon was a legend in her own lifetime. As a young woman, she was confidante to hundreds of thousands of Swiss-German speaking soldiers during the First World War, and remembered most of their names. She was still a teenager when the war began, and was immortalised by a song written during the war years by the Swiss-German bard and lute player, Hans Inn der Gand.

Wehrhafte Schweiz is a Swiss Army propaganda film, made for the Expo 64 national exhibition in the then-prevailing spirit of geistige Landesverteidigung, "cultural national defense". It portrays the Swiss Army fighting against an unnamed, unseen enemy, using heavy weapons such as flamethrowers, artillery, tanks and bomber aircraft. After the enemy is repelled, the film closes with idyllic shots of beautiful Swiss landscapes. The 20-minute film was shot using the latest action film techniques in the Cinerama format on expensive MCS-70 Super Panorama 70mm stock. (Wikipedia)

The farmers of a village decide to postpone the construction of a new school in profit of a concentration to cheese production. From a novel by Jeremias Gotthelf.

Oscar Bänz is a solid, middle-class taxi driver and widower. He loves his daughter Irma with all his heart. In order to provide for her, he has not remarried. Irma, a quiet, intelligent young woman, is studying medicine. To finance her education, Bänz rents a room to Toni Schellenberg, a young man from the countryside with a promising future as a soccer player. But the big city, easy money, and superficial friends cause Toni to neglect his training and evening classes, and eventually his employer fires him. Irma, who has fallen in love with the handsome athlete, asks her father for help. He is finally able to find Toni a job as a taxi driver. But when Irma attends a student party and also agrees to a date with the senior physician Dr. Zbinden, Toni feels neglected.

After the death of his parents, Beat Matter grows up with the Escher family. Their son Dominik is his best friend. As a young man, Beat enlists for two years of service with the Papal Swiss Guard in Rome. Shortly before starting his service, he meets Dominik's fiancée Jacqueline at an Alpine festival. He falls in love, even though he knows that Jacqueline is already promised to someone else.

The film traces Uli's progress from his humble peasant surroundings to the homes of the wealthy and prominent. The characterizations are convincing, and the comic interludes surprisingly subtle and believable for a Swiss film. The no-star cast doomed Uli Der Knecht from the start so far as American distribution was concerned. It was another matter in Switzerland, where the film was one of the year's top moneymakers. Uli der Knecht was based on a novel by Jeremias Gottbelf.

The further trials of the wealthy Emmentaler farming family Jowäger and their neighbors, adapted from the second volume of the 19th century novel by Jeremias Gotthelf (pen-name of Albert Bitzius).

Uli has been the tenant of the "Glunggen-farm" for two years. His wife Vreneli gave him two children and the couple is happy. But this year, the harvest looks bad and his landlord calls in the rent, as the old man urgently needs money to satisfy the demands of his son and stepson. Desperate to make ends meet, Uli fraudulently sells a cow knowing that she does not produce any milk. He is pursued in court but is acquitted. But then, the buyer curses him... and disaster promptly strikes.