Filmmaker Alain Tanner died Sunday at the age of 92. Recognized internationally, Alain Tanner was one of the leading figures of Swiss cinema and was at the origin of the new Swiss cinema in the 1970s.
The announcement was made by the Alain Tanner Association, in consultation with the family of the deceased. The work of this pioneer of New Swiss Cinema still serves as a reference for new generations of filmmakers.
In 1968, Alain Tanner met with four directors – Michel Soutter, Jean-Louis Roy, Jean-Jacques Lagrange (replaced by Yves Yersin in 1971) and Claude Goretta – to found the “Group of 5”. They are all at the origin of this Swiss cinematographic revival, a cinema once morest the current.
“Charles dead or alive”, “The Salamander”
Alain Tanner’s first feature film, “Charles mort ou vive” (1969), marked the beginning of committed auteur cinema in Switzerland. It will be followed in 1971 by “La Salamandre”, a film with libertarian accents, which becomes a cult film. Then, Alain Tanner is influenced by Jean-Luc Godard.
He toured tirelessly from the end of the 1960s until 2004. The Genevan received numerous awards for his films in Locarno, Venice, Cannes and in the United States. In 2014, Alain Tanner’s archives entered the Cinémathèque suisse.
Alain Tanner has always considered that making cinema is a political act. He also extended his commitment beyond the cinema by getting involved in particular in favor of the Palestinian population of Gaza.
Tributes to “a monument” of Swiss cinema
For Swiss filmmaker Jacob Berger, interviewed in Forum, Alain Tanner was a “tender and modest but extremely determined director”. He succeeded three times in making films that speak to generations. “The whole world knew Switzerland and Alain Tanner thanks to “La Salamandre” (1971), a film which had the spirit of 68 but which contrasted completely with films made in France”.
He then made “Jonas who will be twenty-five years old in the year 2000” (1976) “a film which resounds on the whole planet because it speaks of the disillusionment of 68” and finally he made “In the city blanche (1983), a film regarding the desire to disappear.
>> His full interview in Forum:
Switzerland is losing a “monument of its cinema”, according to the director of the Swiss Cinematheque Frédéric Maire. He salutes the “rigor” of his work and an “activist” who has advanced public support for the film in this country.
The Geneva filmmaker Jean-Jacques Lagrange salutes in Alain Tanner, with whom he launched the “Group of 5” in 1968, “a strong personality and a very independent man”. “I remain alone”, says the one, born in 1929, who is now the last of the founders of the Group of 5 still alive.
The Vaudois Lionel Baier raises his notoriety abroad and his ability to film “Swiss violence”. “His cinematic writing was most recognizable”, endowed with “coherence” for a man of “conviction”.
ats/vkiss
