Friedrich Kappeler

Director Kappeler returns to the subject of his past film "Die Ballade des Schreiben" (1995), about poet Gerhard Meier. Now that documentary is viewed as an essential introduction into the poet’s work, a man who became a writer after 33 years working in a factory. Two years after the film Gehard Meier’s wife Dorli died, and in 2005 the now 88-year-old Meier published "Ob die Granatbäume blühen", possibly his most moving work so far. Kappeler’s new documentary expands the themes in his previous one with "Das Wolkenschattenboot". In beautiful, dense images, we experience a talented writer, a person who is true to himself and who conveys his calm and clear view of the world to us in wonderful, powerful language.

The image of the ever-laughing clown from Ascona is well known. He is recognised as a national figure. Performing on tours throughout the world has made him renowned. This film by Friedrich Kappeler is a portrait of a clown and a man still with full of ideas and action with almost 70 years.

"Warum syt dir so truurig", "Dr Ferdinand isch gstorbe" or "I han es Zündhölzli azündt"? Mani Matter has created numerous songs that have shaped generations and whose lyrics are still relevant today. The documentary is a touching and fascinating approach to the legendary Bernese dialect songwriter and depicts his life in the area of tension between his middle-class and artistic existence. Conversations with family and friends are enriched with original recordings by Mani Matter and interpretations by musicians such as Stephan Eicher, Kuno Lauener, Dodo Hug and Polo Hofer. For years, the film was considered the most successful Swiss documentary of all time.

Born in 1900, Varlin decided he had had enough of Switzerland at about the age of 20 and left for Berlin where he became a painter. He then moved to Paris, remaining there a dozen or so years despite the difficulty of earning enough money to keep body and soul together. When the owner of the gallery in which he usually exhibited his work died, Varlin returned to Zurich. But even in Switzerland he did not feel particularly welcome or at home in any way. The war over, his paintings seemed very much out of place in the cosy, unruffled world of post-war Switzerland. Varlin began to travel extensively, while continuing to paint. Eventually he decided to settle at Bergell in canton Grisons, where a significant portion of his work of later years, in terms of both quality and quantity, was completed. He died in 1977. Friedrich Kappeler gives voice to the Swiss painter Varlin, in encounters with his acquaintances and relatives, in his paintings and writings. In addition to well-known works such as "Die Heilsarmee" and portraits of Hulda Zumsteg, Max Frisch, Hugo Loetscher and Friedrich Dürrenmatt, we discover a man full of contradictions. A courageous and sharp-thinking artist on the one hand, an insecure and vulnerable emotional man on the other - a painter who used brush and paint to capture the splendor of everyday objects, but also the fragility of human existence.

Thurgau painter Adolf Dietrich's paintings have found their way out into the world - as far as the Museum of Modern Art in New York. But Dietrich himself stayed in his village all his life and painted what he loved and what preoccupied him: Neighborhood children, bouquets of flowers, pets, the view from his parlor window into the neighbor's garden, onto the village street and the view from his garden onto Lake Constance. In this documentary, Friedrich Kappeler meets people who still knew the Berlinger painter: his nephew, various models, an employer and collectors. Most of them were already very old in 1991, but when they talk about Dietrich, they light up and laugh. Kappeler has clearly found a connection with the contemporary witnesses and takes us on an entertaining journey through the landscape of Untersee and the wonderfully photographed paintings. A journey on which we learn a lot about the painter, but also about the living conditions of the time.

This is no ordinary documentary about the forest. Although there are foresters and charcoal burners and lots of greenery in the images, there is also a thought-provoking text by Robert Walser and a witty Schubert opera with Mathias Gnädinger as a hunter lying in wait for a pair of lovers. The result is a peculiar homage to the Swiss forest, to the quiet places where people tend to retreat, turning to their dreams, sufferings, joys, work or hobbies. An essay about the forest by Friedrich Kappeler, based on personal experience.

Three old photographers in the mid-1980s - from the patron of a family business spanning several generations to a city original documenting Zurich's nightlife with his Polaroid camera - shortly before the advent of digital photography. Friedrich Kappeler and his cameraman Pio Corradi, both trained photographers, portray their professional colleagues with great empathy, poetry and humor.

A father, a photographer by profession, would like to involve his son in the family business, but he hesitates and doesn't know what to do with himself. His homeland has become alien to him. In 1980, Swiss television commissioned seven filmmakers to make hour-long feature films about the seven deadly sins. Friedrich Kappeler's contribution is strongly influenced by his own experiences at the time. His protagonist returns from Germany to his home town (filmed in Diessenhofen and Frauenfeld) - just as he himself had returned from film school in Munich shortly before. Gardi Hutter, Elsbeth Gmür and Astrid Keller play alongside Yves Jansen and Walter Wefel.

"Der andere Anfang" is the story of Theo who does not want to live the life that is expected of him. But it is also about the difficulties of imagining and realizing a life that contradicts what is already valid and normal. When designing the film, Friedrich Kappeler sought the opportunity to leave out what contributes nothing else to the narrative: in other words, language that is visualized verbatim and sounds that only provide background. "Der andere Anfang" is also what you always hope for, and what rarely happens when you only hope.

"Es Hundeläbe" (1972) is a short, funny animated film with literally visualized idioms from the Swiss vernacular. "Emil Eberli" (1973), also made in the photography class at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich, was a well-known city original who collected booze in restaurants with his handcart. Friedrich Kappeler portrays the outsider, whom everyone laughs at, with great respect. In "Müde kehrt ein Wanderer zurück" (1975), he describes how a desperate old man in the neighborhood is sent to a retirement home. Friedrich Kappeler's early works show what would also characterize his later films: a great empathy for protagonists who touch your heart and remain there, unforgettable.