Walden

Somewhere in the majestic Chinese highlands of our days: The Pandas' survival is severely endangered as the bamboo is becoming scarce, and humans continuously expand into their habitat. And laziness being one of the Pandas' most significant character traits, what the community now requires is someone to rouse them. Manchu, with the help of his friends, stands up to all the trials. The group has nearly reached their destination when suddenly the humans unleash the floods of their newly-built dam, aimed at the Pandas' valley!

A contemplative walk leads to a bizarre climb. The camera, which has barely touched on an everyday rural landscape, attaches itself to a wooden track to follow a breakneck route over a vertical rock face. At the end: a view of the starting point of the journey - the village! It is only a few minutes of film, but hints at an eternity, far, deep under the rock face.

In his film Walden (Special Jury Prize in the Documentary Film Competition, KVIFF 2018) Daniel Zimmermann captured the paradoxical migration of wood from Europe to the Brazilian rainforest in order to draw attention to the absurdity of the globalised world. The Swiss conceptualist now dedicates his Spheres to the deconstruction of the artist’s ego. In a field not far from a housing development, a man prepares to throw a long, thin pole up into the air, thus embarking on a metaphorical journey to the depths of his being. This formally distinctive film examines details of the surroundings as its camera slowly and continuously pans 360°. The viewers, on the other hand, are invited to turn their attention inwards, to glimpse beneath the socially and culturally determined exterior of the human personality

Bobsleighing in the summer is, of course, not really a very good idea, yet Daniel Zimmerman manages to do it. On a summer Alpen meadow, he patiently constructs a track of about ten thousand wooden slats. Thanks to the stop motion technique, his camera takes us on a thundering journey through the mountain landscape. The soundtrack provides an Olympic atmosphere. With a flashy parody of the ride film to boot. And a curious example of land art.

The Lauberhorn ski race, the longest in the world, is taking place in the summer this year. Ten thousand wooden slats laid out in a perfect course that the skiers could never make themselves. As a spectator, we get inside the skiers who race down at a dizzying speed. Accompanied by a live commentary.