A film by CHRISTOPH SCHAUB

Official Trailer

SYNOPSIS

Temporality and age are inherent in every object and creature and, depending on one’s outlook, may transcend to infinity. How can this be imagined? What goes beyond it? The filmmaker Christoph Schaub starts his personal journey through time and space in his childhood, when his fascination with sacred buildings began – and his wonder at beginnings and ends.
Schaub explores, together with the architects Peter Zumthor, Peter Märkli and Álvaro Siza Vieira, the artists James Turrell and Cristina Iglesias and drummer virtuoso Jojo Mayer, the magic of sacred spaces, defined here as far more than church buildings. Who owns spirituality?
The film follows “spiritual life” in architecture and the fine arts, but also in nature, and literally lifts it over and above the limits of thinking. A slightly floating camera immerses us in somnambulistic images, takes us on a sensual and sensing journey through vast spaces, and guides our eye towards the infinity of the starry sky and the depths of the ocean. Past and present, primeval times and light years, it’s all there.

World premiere International Competition Dok Leipzig 
30. October 2018

Solothurn Film Festival

25. January 2019, at 3.15pm – Reithalle
27. January 2019, at 8.30pm – Landhaus

Theatre release

German-speaking Switzerland: 31st January 2019
French-speaking Switzerland: 19th April 2019

Venues across Switzerland:
cineman.ch

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The Protagonists

PETER

ZUMTHOR

architect, Haldenstein, CH

Born in 1943. Joiner’s apprenticeship. Studied Interior Architecture, Design and Architecture at the Basel School for Applied Arts and at the Pratt Institute in New York. In 1978, he set up his own architectural firm in Haldenstein (Canton of Graubünden, CH). Peter Zumthor has received numerous architecture awards, including the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

ÁLVARO

SIZA VIEIRA

architect, Porto, PT

Born in 1933. Lives and works in Porto, where he founded his architectural firm in 1958. Siza is considered to be Portugal’s main representative of Modernist architecture. He has received numerous, important distinctions for his work, including the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

ÁLVARO

SIZA VIEIRA

architect, Porto, PT

Born in 1933. Lives and works in Porto, where he founded his architectural firm in 1958. Siza is considered to be Portugal’s main representative of Modernist architecture. He has received numerous, important distinctions for his work, including the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

JOJO

MAYER

musician, drummer, New York, USA

Born in 1963. A Swiss drummer residing in New York, who has worked with jazz greats such as Dizzy Gillespie, Nina Simone and John Zorn. He has his own band called “NERVE”.

CRISTINA

IGLESIAS

artist, Madrid, ES

Born in 1956. A Spanish installation artist and sculptor, who lives and works in Torrelodones, Madrid. Her work is comprised of a variety of materials, including steel, water, glass, bronze, bamboo and straw.

CRISTINA

IGLESIAS

artist, Madrid, ES

Born in 1956. A Spanish installation artist and sculptor, who lives and works in Torrelodones, Madrid. Her work is comprised of a variety of materials, including steel, water, glass, bronze, bamboo and straw.

JAMES

TURRELL

artist, Flagstaff, USA

Born in 1943. The most prominent Land Art and Light artist in the U.S. His rich body of work predominantly deals with the relationship between space and light.

PETER

MÄRKLI

architect, Zurich, CH

Born in 1953. Studied at the ETH in Zurich. From 2002-20015, he worked as a professor at the ETH Zurich. Since 2013, Visiting Professor at the MARCH School of Architecture in Moscow. He runs his own architectural firm in Zurich.

PETER

MÄRKLI

architect, Zurich, CH

Born in 1953. Studied at the ETH in Zurich. From 2002-20015, he worked as a professor at the ETH Zurich. Since 2013, Visiting Professor at the MARCH School of Architecture in Moscow. He runs his own architectural firm in Zurich.

CHRISTOPH SCHAUB (BIO)

Christoph Schaub’s career in filming begins during the youth movement in Zurich in the summer of 1980. The young political filmmaker produces his first films with the film production company Videoladen.
With almost thirty fiction and documentary films, Christoph Schaub now belongs to the most influential and active Swiss filmmakers. He directed several documentaries devoted to architectural themes such as SANTIAGO CALATRAVA’S TRAVELS (2000) or BIRD’S NEST – HERZOG & DE MEURON IN CHINA (2008) both selected for the Locarno Film Festival. To a wide audience he is known for his awrd winnng fiction film JULIA’S DISAPPEARANCE (2009) and his most recent comedy AMUR SENZA FIN (2018). His multifaceted body of work has been honoured with a restrospective at the Solothurn Film Days in 2018.
Together with his cinematic work, Christoph is also involved in the film industry. In 1980, he established with a group of like-minded individuals a cinema in the autonomous youth centre in Zurich (AJZ), wich later turned into the the arthouse cinema Xenix. In 1996 he was involved in funding the company Neugass-Cinemas Zurich and Lucerne, of which Christoph has been the president of the board until 2018. For a time, he collaborated also as a board of the foundations Swiss Films and Zurich Filmfund, just to name a few of his engagements.

Distribution and Media Contacts

World sales:

MAGNETFILM GmbH
Torstr. 154 | 10115 Berlin | Germany
+49 (0)30 246 281 56
georg.gruber@magnetfilm.de
www.magnetfilm.de

Production:

maximage
Neugasse 6
8005 Zürich
+41 44 274 88 66
info@maximage.ch
www.maximage.ch

Distribution Switzerland:

cineworx gmbh
Clarastrasse 48
Postfach
4005 Basel
+41 61 261 63 70
info@cineworx.ch
www.cineworx.ch

Contact Christoph Schaub:

Schaub Filmproduktion
Dienerstrasse 7
8004 Zürich
+41 44 291 10 22
post@schaubfilm.ch
www.schaubfilm.ch

World sales:

MAGNETFILM GmbH
Torstr. 154 | 10115 Berlin | Germany
+49 (0)30 246 281 56
georg.gruber@magnetfilm.de
www.magnetfilm.de

Distribution Switzerland:

cineworx gmbh
Clarastrasse 48
Postfach
4005 Basel
+41 61 261 63 70
info@cineworx.ch
www.cineworx.ch

Production:

maximage
Neugasse 6
8005 Zürich
+41 44 274 88 66
info@maximage.ch
www.maximage.ch

Contact Christoph Schaub:

Schaub Filmproduktion
Dienerstrasse 7
8004 Zürich
+41 44 291 10 22
post@schaubfilm.ch
www.schaubfilm.ch

Credits

Camera Ramón Giger, Editing Marina Wernli, Music Jojo Mayer and Jacob Bergson, Voice-over Raphael Clamer, Steadycam Fabian Gamper, Picture Design Patrick Lindenmaier, Animations William Crook, Script Co-Author Samuel Ammann, Sound Design Peter Bräker, Mixing Jacques Kieffer, Producers Brigitte Hofer and Cornelia Seitler, Coproduction Swiss Radio and Television SRG SSR and 3sat

IMPRESSUM