FESTIVAL
Taliban hostage drama “And Tomorrow We Will Be Dead,” by Swiss filmmaker Michael Steiner (“The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch”) will open the 17th Zurich Film Festival (Sept. 23 – Oct. 3).
The film follows the story of Daniela Widmer (Morgane Ferru) and David Och (Sven Schelker), the Swiss couple were kidnapped and handed over to the Taliban in 2011 while traveling through Pakistan. The story kept Switzerland on tenterhooks. For eight months, the two were held as hostages until they managed to escape.
“I’m a storyteller and here I wanted to give a personal insight into the fate of the two hostages Daniela Widmer and David Och, so that the audience understands the context,” said Steiner.
The world premiere of the film will take place in the presence of Swiss Federal President Guy Parmelin and the Mayor of Zurich Corine Mauch. It will be the first screening in the newly renovated Convention Center, the festival’s newest venue with more than 1200 seats.
The film is a Zodiac Pictures Ltd production in co-production with MMC Zodiac, SRF and Blue, and was supported by the Federal Office of Culture, the Zurich Film Foundation, SRG SSR, the cantons of St.Gallen and Lucerne and Suissimage. Distributed by The Walt Disney Company (Switzerland), the film will open in Swiss cinemas on Oct. 21.
Cheyne Gateley/Variety
Meanwhile, Iranian director Reza Mirkarimi, Kazakh professor and film critic Gulnara Abikeyeva, and Korean journalist Kim Haery have been appointed as the members of the Kim Jiseok Award jury at the Busan International Film Festival (Oct. 6-15, 2021). Among the world premiere films unspooling at the festival, they will pick two from Asia worthy of receiving $10,000 cash prizes. China’s Wang Nanfu, Korean director Kelvin Kyung Kun Park, and Indonesian producer Mandy Marahimin will form the BIFF Mecenat Award jury, while festival advisor Bastian Meiresonne and directors Royston Tan and Yoon Danbi will select the short film winners from the Wide Angle section. The BIFF Mecenat Award selects a Korean and an Asian documentary, and the Sonje Award selects a Korean and an Asian short film among the films invited to the Wide Angle competition section. The winners are awarded KRW 10,000,000 ($8,570) each. – Patrick Frater
LICENSING
Two seasons of animated pre-school series “Turbozaurs” have been licensed to mainstream Chinese streaming platform Youku, part of e-commerce and entertainment giant Alibaba. The show involves friendly dinosaurs which can transform themselves into machines. Together with a group of three kids they form a rescue team and embark on missions to ensure everyone is safe and happy. It was created by Caramel & Co Animation Studio for the Carousel Channel in Russia. International licensing is handled by Beyond Rights, for which this is a first deal with Youku. – Patrick Frater