As part of the “Rome Climate Talks”, “Eldorado” was shown at the Goethe Institute on April 9, 2024.
I would like to thank the German Embassy and the Instituto Svizzero in Rome for the invitation.
Copyright Goethe-Institut/Marie Ott.
Thanks also to my Italian team Antonella Falconio (producer) and Raffaele Falcone (CGIL, who accompanied me to the “Grand Ghetto” of Foggia).
May 13th, 2023
I am very delighted about the honorary membership of the “ARF/FDS Swiss Filmmakers Association”
together with Rolf Lyssy and Fredi Murer
Laudation by Jela Hasler
Pictures ©Martin Guggisberg
December, 12th 2022
The Associazone Museo Nazionale del Cinema awards Markus Imhoof with the Maria Adriana Prolo Award for lifetime achievement and publishes a monograph on his films (curated by Valentina Noya and Vittorio Sclaverini).
The laudation speech was given by the President of Amnesty International Italy, Emanuele Russo.
Autograph session with a school class in Turin after a screening of Eldorado
May 14th 2022
The Amercian Franklin University Switzerland awards Markus Imhoof the honorary doctorate “Doctor of Humane letters honoris causa”.
“My father was very worried because – after completing my studies – I didn’t finish my dissertation and became a film-director instead of a doctor and professor like him. But the fascinating thing about my job is that – with every new topic – I can start a new study.
That’s why I am so humbled at the honorable gift that Franklin University is offering to me – and posthumously to my father: even with my artistic playing around I have finally reached the goal. My heartfelt thanks to the Franklin University for this rescue.”
The whole acceptance speech is HERE to read
Click HERE for the film link
About Markus Imhoof:
„Markus Imhoof – Rebellischer Poet“
Portrait by Stefan Jäger
On 20. and 23. 01. 2022 screened at the 57th Solothurn Film Festival 2022
“The Boat is Full,” “The Journey,” “More Than Honey” or “Eldorado.” The titles of his films are mostly references to his own biography. Through their universal message, however, they are also testimonies to a unique œuvre. Markus Imhoof celebrated his 80th birthday on September 19, 2021. The time is ripe to pay tribute to him in a documentary film, but also to look back critically on his expressive life and work.
Link to film (3sat): Markus Imhoof – Rebellischer Poet , Sa, 18.09., 9.55pm, 3sat
Link to film (SRF Mediathek): Markus Imhoof – Rebellischer Poet , Su, 12.09., 11.55am, SRF 1 in “Sternstunde Kultur”
Link SRF- Markus Imhoof: Der anerkannteste Nestbeschmutzer des Schweizer Kinos
To listen:
Link “Sennhausers Filmblog”: Filmpodcast Nr. 711: Dune, Heitere Fahne, Markus Imhoof
Akademie der Künste opens Markus Imhoof Archive
Swiss filmmaker Markus Imhoof has donated his extensive artistic archive to the Akademie der Künste. On the occasion of his 80th birthday on 19 September 2021, his archive will be opened to researchers and the interested public:
Link to the Archive: Akademie der Künste
The Markus Imhoof Archive comprises 55 linear metres of screenplays, draft screenplays, shooting schedules and other production documents, work and scene photographs, advertising and press material as well as reviews of all of Imhoof’s films and theatre productions. It also includes extensive correspondence and biographical material. As a first step, documents pertaining to his films and theatre productions will now be made accessible.
Markus Imhoof was born in Winterthur in 1941. He studied German, art history and history in Zurich and was Leopold Lindtberg’s assistant at Schauspielhaus Zürich before attending the film school at Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich. Since 1968, he has been an independent director and author, primarily dedicating himself to socially critical and political topics, as in his first documentary films Rondo (1968), a critique of the Swiss penal system, and Ormenis 199+99 (1969), about the Swiss cavalry. In 1980, Markus Imhoof drew attention to the behaviour of the Swiss toward Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany in Das Boot ist voll. The film won the Silver Bear at the Berlinale and was nominated for an Oscar.
Die Reise followed in 1986, based on the autobiographical novel by Bernward Vesper on the generational conflict of the student protest movement of 1968 up to the early days of the Red Army Faction (RAF). Over the last decade, the filmmaker has documented the threatened disappearance of bees in More than Honey (2012) and the situation of refugees fleeing across the Mediterranean Sea in Eldorado (2018). In addition to his film work, Markus Imhoof has also been producing theatre plays since 1987, among others in Lucerne, Bern, Saarbrücken and Vienna. He was a founding member of the Film and Media Art Section of the Akademie der Künste in 1984. A list of his many works and accolades is available at www.adk.de.
Inquiries: Dr Torsten Musial, Director of the Film and Media Art Section
musial(at)adk.de
From: Press Release Akademie der Künste, 17.09.2021
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY” by Markus Imhoof, 1968 (film still)
On the occasion of Markus Imhoof’s 80th birthday on 19 September 2021 screenings and retrospectives will take place in Zurich, Lausanne and Delémont.
An extended retrospective “Imhoof and Friends” is scheduled for 2022 at Kino Babylon, Rosa-Luxemburg Platz in Berlin.
Several films by Markus Imhoof are shown on TV on SRF, 3sat and BR.
Films by Markus Imhoof
25. August – 2. October 2021, Cinémathèque Suisse, Lausanne
Under the title “Filmer là où c’est nécessaire” the Cinémathèque Suisse is showing an extensive retrospective of works by Markus Imhoof, including 5 films in newly restored versions.
Wed, 15.09. 8pm DAS BOOT IST VOLL (at the Paderewski cinema, Casino de Montbenon, Lausanne).
Introduced and followed by a panel discussion by Frédérique Maire with Markus Imhoof.
Link to program: Retrospective Markus Imhoof
11. – 19. September 2021, Filmpodium, Zurich
Zurich’s Filmpodium presents a retrospective of several of Markus Imhoof’s current and early films.
Tue, 14.09. Double feature with Markus Imhoof, moderated by Michel Bodmer
6pm HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RONDO and ORMENIS
9pm FLUCHTGEFAHR
Link to program: Markus Imhoof 80th birthday
16. – 18. September 2021, Cinéma Lido and Cinéma La Grange, Delémont
Three evenings with Markus Imhoof as part of the “Tournée d’Adieu” by filmmaker and producer Pierre-Alain Meier (Thelma Film and Prince Film) – he produced Markus Imhoof’s last three films.
Thu, 16.09., 8.30pm MORE THAN HONEY (Cinéma La Grange)
Fri, 17.09.,7.30pm: Welcome in the presence of Markus Imhoof, 8pm DAS BOOT IST VOLL (Cinéma Lido)
Sat, 18.09.,2pm public reception in presence of Markus Imhoof, 2.30pm FLAMMEN IM PARADISE (Cinéma Lido)
Link to program: love of fate – autour des raison du Coeur
Broadcasts on television:
16.06.2021, 10.45pm (BR) ELDORADO
17.09.2021, 11.50pm (SRF 1) DER BERG
18.09.2021, 2.10pm (SRF 1) FLAMMEN IM PARADIES
18.09.2021, 11.15pm (RSI) FLAMMEN IM PARADIES
19.09.2021, 10.50pm (RSI LA2) ELDORADO
19.09.2021, 11.45pm (SRF) MORE THAN HONEY
20.09.2021, 8.15pm (3sat) MORE THAN HONEY
20.09.2021, 10.25pm (3sat) ELDORADO
21.09.2021, 11.00pm (3sat) DAS BOOT IST VOLL
22.09.2021, 11.15pm (3sat) DIE REISE
19.10.2021, 9pm (RTS 2) DER BERG
19.10.2021, approx. 11pm (RTS 2) FLAMMEN IM PARADIES
“On the occasion of Markus Imhoof`s 80th birthday”
by Michel Bodmer
Markus Imhoof (*19.9.1941) has been an uncomfortable filmmaker from the beginning. In both his fictional and documentary works, he held up a mirror to Switzerland that glossed over nothing. To mark his 80th birthday, the Filmpodium is showing a selection of Imhoof’s films; he will be visiting on 14.9.
Markus Imhoof was born into an intellectual Winterthur family – both parents were teachers – and was soon confronted with the harsh reality of those less spoilt by fate by temporarily taking in refugee children in their home. These formative childhood experiences also moved Imhoof to use the craft of film as more than just “l’art pour l’art” after assisting Leopold Lindtberg at the Schauspielhaus and graduating from the Kunstgewerbeschule under Kurt Früh. “His second school film (Rondo) confirmed not only his formal talent, but also an extraordinary seriousness, a commitment to our times, a critical young person”, as Martin Schaub wrote in the “Tages-Anzeiger Magazin” in 1970.
Imhoof repeatedly tangled with sacred cows of his father’s generation: With careerism (Happy Birthday, 1968), with the penal system (Rondo, 1968, and Fluchtgefahr, 1974), with the army (Ormenis 199+69, 1969), with the myth of Switzerland as a haven for refugees (Das Boot ist voll, 1981, and Eldorado, 2018); he brought up the concealed long-term consequences of Nazism (Die Reise, 1986) as well as the destructive effects of the globalised economy (More Than Honey, 2012). He wasn’t a “Nestbeschmutzer” / traitor, as one was easily being labbeled at the time, but someone who pointed out the existing dirt and filmed “to see what I didn’t really want to see”. A whistleblower, as it is called today, a system-relevant profession; he counts himself among the “leaven” of life, not among the “patisserie”.
In between his enlightening films, Imhoof also made smaller and more intimate dramas (Tauwetter, 1977; Der Berg, 1990; Flammen im Paradies, 1996), directed at the theatre and at the opera. His greatest impetus, however, remains his social and political commitment. At the beginning of 2021, he received the Honorary Award of the Swiss Film Academy, which he did not want to be understood as an honour for a completed body of work: “I have just begun the most difficult project: It is about three women in three centuries on three continents and the question of whether fate, chance or free will guides and connects them.” So one can continue to be curious.
DER BERG Markus Imhoof (1990)
From 19.08.2021 my film DER BERG (1990) can be seen in a newly restored version via filmo – Swiss films rediscovered –.
I am happy that the film has been resurrected – freshly restored – for todays viewers. Have a good time!
Link to film: DER BERG_filmo
Link to the filmo trailer: Tops of Swiss Films
I am happy and thank you very much for that
Honorary award of the Swiss federal government 2020 for my lifework.
Am I really as old as Curt Bois when shooting the “Boat is full” …?
My new project “Jump over your shadow?” is already happy about the prize money …
The award by Federal Councilor Berset was planned for the Locarno film festival and is now scheduled to take place on January 25 at the Solothurn Film Festival.
The prize is awarded every year to a person whose work or commitment has had a significant impact on the history and culture of Swiss cinema and society.
Here is the laudation:
Markus Imhoof wrote Swiss film history with his films. Numerous awards show the recognition of this great director. “More Than Honey” (2012) is still the most successful Swiss documentary ever. Combining the political with the personal … always in search of humanity. This is how you can describe Markus Imhoof’s work.
Imhoof had always trouble with his films. After the ban on his prison film “Rondo” (1968), he was hired as a prison guard and wrote the screenplay for his first feature film “Fluchtgefahr” (1974). Later he worked as an Eichsenwichser in the underground channels in his native city Winterthur. Society needs the leaven and Imhoof prefers to belong to leaven rather than patisserie.
In 1981 his feature film “The boat is full” – a critical look at the restrictive Swiss refugee policy during the Second World War – was nominated for an Oscar. With his second full-length documentary “Eldorado” (2018) Imhoof takes up the topic again decades later. The film combines today’s global humanitarian crisis with the director’s personal experiences. Switzerland sends the harrowing and committed drama into the Oscar race. For Imhoof, the film has a very personal core. His childhood memories and his realization that everyone else says “I” to him or herself. He falls in love with the other “I”.
“The only thing that remains in the end are memories that are based on love.”
The Swiss Federal President Simonetta Sommaruga opens the World Economic Forum 2020 in Davos with excerpts from the film “More than Honey”.
The key question is: Are we humans part of nature or do we have to dominate it?
To feed ourselves – often only out of greed – we loot nature with an increasingly threatening machinery.
Our success is destroying our own livelihood.
The solution would be: symbiosis, “The living together of living things of biological organisms for mutual benefit.” (Wikipedia)
Only the stupidest parasite kills its host.
>>Link to Simonetta Sommaruga’s speach beginning from minute 20:28: Welcoming Remarks Simonetta Sommaruga WEF 2020
Eldorado was screened at the Berlin & Beyond Film Festival in San Francisco on 17th of October.
Eldorado got the Human Rights Award of WACC-SIGNIS Europe in Palermo on the 10th of October.
You can watch the whole award ceremony here:
Eldorado was screened at 1905 International Human Rights Festival in HongKong on August 22, 2019.
Eldorado was honoured with the human rights award of WACC-SIGNIS Europe
Eldorado wins the audience award at the Doc Film Festival Le Voci dell’ Inchiesta in Pordenone, Italy.
Premiere of Eldorado in Italy
Eldorado premieres in Italy on april 14th. Eldorado will be shown in following cities with discussion afterwards:
Sun, 14.04, 4.10 pm, Pordenone, cinema zero
Mon, 15.04, 9.30 pm, Trieste, Ariston
Tue, 16.04, 9 pm, Padua, MPX MULTIPLEX PIO x
We, 17.04,9 pm, Rom, Apollo Eleven
Thu, 18.04, 9 pm, Bologna, Cinema Theatre Orion
Thu, 18.04, 8.30 pm, Florence, cinema la compagnia (without the director)
Sat, 04.05., Milano, Triennale Milano
Sun, 05.05. Turin, Cinema Massimo
The trailer with Italian subtitles: http://bit.ly/EldoradoIlTrailer
Pre-Premiere of Eldorado in France, Swiss Film Prize and further screening dates
21.3.19 at 8pm: Pre-premiere France of Eldorado in Paris followed by a discussion
in the Swiss cultural center
32 rue des Francs Bourgeois,
75003 Paris, France
22.3.19 from 7.30pm and on SRF2 from 9.55pm
Presentation of the Swiss Film Prize
in the Bâtiment des Forces Motrices in Geneva.
One of the five nominated films wins … Eldorado is nominated for Best Doc, Cinematography and Music.
23.3.19, 5pm Screening of More than Honey followed by a discussion
in the Swiss cultural center
32 rue des Francs Bourgeois,
75003 Paris
I hope for fruitful thoughts on the long train journeys Paris> Geneva> Paris …
27.3.19 at 19.00 Screening of Eldorado followed by a panel discussion with Captain Reisch of the rescue ship Lifeline and Bettina Jarasch from the Green party Berlin.
in the KuBIZ Raoul Wallenberg
Bernkasteler Str. 78
13088 Berlin Pankow
Bavarian Film Award for Eldorado
Eldorado was honored at the Prinzregententheater Munich on 25.01.2019 with the Bavarian Film Award for Best Documentary Feature. The prize was handed over by the captain of the lifeboat Lifeline, who is accused in Malta for rescuing human life. I would like to thank the team, jury and protagonists.
“The Boat is Full” and “Eldorado” at the Solothurner Filmtage – Journées de Soleure – Giornate di Soletta (24.01.-31.01.19)
Jan 27, 4pm, cinema in the Uferbau: screening “The boat is full” with subsequent discussion.
Jan 28, 12.30am, Reithalle: screening “Eldorado” followed by a discussion.
Jan 28, 4pm, cinema in the Uferbau: reading from the script of “The boat is full.
Jan 29., 10.00am, Café Bar Barock: “From Filming Course to Film University Zurich” on the podium with Sabine Boss.
Jan 31, 2.30pm, Landhaus: screening “Eldorado” followed by a discussion.
On top of that “The Boat is full” has been selected by the Solothurner Filmtage for the Video on Demand series “Swiss Film Classics”. It will start in June on iTunes, Teleclub on Demand, UPC, Sky and Cinephile. The online edition FILMO will be presented in Solothurn on Jan 25, 3pm at Uferbau Kino.
Eldorado – Academy Member Screenings in Hollywood, Los Angeles.
Showings followed by Q&A with Markus Imhoof
Tuesday, Nov 6th, 3:00pm at Soho House, 9200 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood
Thursday, Nov 8th, 2:00pm at Dick Clark Productions, 2900 Olympic Blvd, Santa Monica
Saturday, Nov 10th, 5:00pm at Wilshire Screening Room, 8670 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 112, Beverly Hills
Monday, Nov 12th, 7:30pm at Aero Theatre: Eldorado and More Than Honey double feature, 1328 Montana Ave, Santa Monica
Wednesday, Nov 14th, 8:00pm at Laemmle Santa Monica, 1332 2nd St, Santa Monica
Thursday, Nov 15th,7:30pm LA Times Screening at Montalban Theater, 1616 Vine St, Los Angeles
Saturday, Nov 17th, 5:00pm at Wilshire Screening Room, 8670 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 112, Beverly Hills
Monday, Nov 19th,7:30pm Deadline Hollywood Screening Series at Landmark Theaters on Pico, 10850 Pico Blvd, Los Angeles
Saturday, Dec 8th, 12:00pm, Dick Clark Productions Screening Room, 2900 Olympic Blvd, Santa Monica without Markus Imhoof
Eldorado at the BFI London Film Festival, UK.
Eldorado screens in the category “Films in Journey”:
on Tuesday 16 October at 5.15pm
on Thursday 18 October at 3.20pm
Markus Imhoof will be present at both screenings for a Q & A afterwards.
Eldorado and Markus Imhoof at Deutsches Theater Berlin, Germany.
Eldorado will be screened in cooperation with Internationale Heiner-Müller Stiftung at Deutsches Theater Berlin on Thursday 04 October at 8pm. Afterwards Markus Imhoof will discuss with German actress and proponent of Oxfam, Heike Makatsch.
Eldorado at Vancouver International Film Festival , Canada.
Eldorado in the category “Impact”
on Thursday 27 September at 8.45pm
and Wednesday 03. October at 10.30am
Eldorado is shown as the French preview at the Cinema Visions Festival – Festival du Cinéma en Langue allemand in Marseille.
on Thursday, 20 September at 9pm at I Cinéma Le César and is followed by a discussion.
Eldorado has his US premiere at the 45th Telluride Film Festival.
©photo: Main Street Banner (by Pamela Gentile)
It will screen as the ‘Special Medallion’ film in celebration of Dieter Kosslick, the current Director of the Berlinale – Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin. Screenings will be on Sunday, 02 September at 5 pm with Question and Answer with Markus Imhoof himself and on Monday at 9 am.
Markus Imhoof will be honored with a retrospective and the HUMAN RIGHTS PRIZE FOR THE AUTHOR at this year’s Film Festival Diritti Umani in Lugano, Switzerland.
The prize will be awarded in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Human Rights Declaration. The 5th edition of the festival will take place from 09 until 14 October 2018.
Eldorado is Switzerland’s official submission to the category of Foreign Language Film at the Oscars® at the 91st Academy Awards 2019 in Hollywood, USA.
photo ©SWISS FILMS Fotos by Module+
A jury of filmmakers and the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, advised by Swiss Films, selected Eldorado on 03 August 2018 to be in contention for an Oscar nomination. Markus Imhoof’s words of thanks can be read again on hist personal Facebook page.
Screenings, nominations and prices of Eldorado at national and international film festivals:
Eldorado at the Human Rights Festival in Zagreb, Croatia on December 07.
Eldorado at the Festival des Deutschen Films in Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Germany 23 August, on September 04, 05 and 07, 2018.
The editor of Eldorado, Beatrice Babin, will be available for a question & answer after the film at the the two main screenings on September 04 and 05, 2018.
Eldorado was shown at the The New Zealand International Film Festival in Wellington, New Zealand on July 30, August 6 and 12, 2018.
Eldorado was screened in the category Panorama Suisse at the 71. Locarno Festival in Switzerland on August 05, 2018.
Eldorado performed at the SWR Doku Festival, in Stuttgart, Germany, June 27-30, and was nominated for the Dokumentarfilmpreis 2018 (German Documentary Film Award 2018).
Eldorado was the opening film at the Festival of Migrant Film in Ljubljana, Slowenia on June 18, 2018. DocAviv – the international documentar
Eldorado was screened at DocAviv – the Tel Aviv International Documentary Film Festival in Tel Aviv, Israel on May 17 to May 26, 2018.
Eldorado at the Millenium Docs Against Gravity Festival in Warsaw, Poland from May, 11 to 20, 2018 and received a special mention for a “moving and compassionate plea for empathy”.
Eldorado was shown at the Festival Visions du Réel, Nyon, Switzerland on April 15th and April 17th.
Eldorado at the Hong Kong International Film Festival, China on March 19 to April 5, 2018.
Eldorado was the opening film at Kirchliches Filmfestival Recklinghausen, Germany on March 14 2018.
Press comments about Eldorado:
„Enormous emotional energy“
– Paolo Mereghetti, Corriere della sera (Italy)
„Sombre, unflinching and personal […] Markus Imhoof’s Eldorado is a deeply felt documentary essay on Europe’s refugee question.“
– The Guardian (UK)
ELDORADO
When Markus Imhoof, born in 1941, was a little boy in Switzerland, his parents took in a young Italian refugee named Giovanna. But global politics tore apart the children’s friendship. The director’s memories of those events have prompted him to address Europe’s current refugee policy. An Italian naval ship off the coast of Libya takes on board 1,800 boat people, none of whom would have a chance to come to Europe legally. From the ship they are taken to a refugee camp where they spend between eight and fifteen months on average. ‘We don’t promise them paradise, but it gets better every day,’says one aid worker. For those who choose to leave the camp, often the only option is to work illegally: women are forced into prostitution and men hire themselves out to work on tomato plantations. As one of those affected concludes: ‘This isn’t life, it’s not even survival.’ And what about the few who are accepted by Switzerland? Imhoof’s film questions the system of organised aid, which delivers refugees into a vicious circle largely determined by economic interests. A quiet film which becomes a powerful reminder.
Berlinale Program 2018, Eldorado
World Premiere: Feb 22, 2018, Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin – Out of Competition