Ciné-Portrait

STEFAN
HAUPT
©Photo: Sven Bänziger

Ciné-Portraits – a monograph series published by the promotion agency SWISS FILMS.

When using the texts or excerpts thereof, the source must be cited.
Update: 2014 / Original version: German, 2011 [Link]
BIOG RAPH Y

Stefan Haupt was born in Zurich

in 1961. He attended the Zurich
Drama School from 1985 to
1988, obtaining a degree in

HAUPT
Theater Education. Since 1989
he has worked as a director and STE FA N
independent filmmaker. In 1998
he founded his own produc-
tion company, Fontana Film, in
Zurich. His feature film debut
Utopia Blues was honoured
with the Zurich Film Prize and Looking life in the face
the Swiss Film Prize, among
others. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
is one of the most successful

I
Swiss documentary films to t’s impossible to categorise him. He’s neither the absolute auteur filmmaker nor feature film
date, with some 300,000 view-
ers throughout Europe. From director or documentary filmmaker: “The form for telling the story always comes to me with
2008 to 2010 Stefan Haupt
was president of the Swiss the initial idea for a film,” explains Stefan Haupt. And in actual fact, all of his feature films could
Filmmakers Association, and
from 2007 to 2012 a board also be viewed as documentary films – and vice versa. Are films like I‘m Just a Simple Person
member of the foundation of
SWISS FILMS, the promotion or Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Facing Death conceivable then as emotionally profound biopics, as
agency. Stefan Haupt is married
to actress Eleni Haupt; they fictional biographical films? Of course! Just like Utopia Blues could have been superbly realised as
live in Zurich with their four
children. a documentary account of a phenomenal mental situation or How About Love as an examination

of conflicting experiences made by voluntary aid workers on an emotional roller coaster, vacillat-

ing between their protected existence at home and their life as a volunteer in the place of action.

However diverse the themes Stefan Haupt tackles, he always does it in his own way, and

very intuitively in the first instance. Initially, there is the core of an idea, encapsulated with increa-

singly condensed layers of plots and subplots that are researched with meticulous precision over

the course of weeks, months and occasionally years. Even for his feature films Haupt collects

material like a documentary filmmaker, whereby his fiction is realistically anchored. His clarity and

precision notwithstanding, Stefan Haupt is first and foremost tremendously artistic. He’s someone

who brings his tremendous sensitivity into question, pensively deliberating until he finds his way

back to that certainty which renders his films so candid and realistic.

Perhaps his grip on reality combined with a poetic vein stems from his background. Stefan

Haupt’s family on the maternal side was a family of teachers: “The form for telling the story
always comes to me with the in-
his great grandfather managed a reform school in the village of
itial idea for a film.” Stefan Haupt

Grabs in the Rhine Valley, which would later serve as the point

of departure for a touching love story in Haupt’s first documentary film I‘m Just a Simple Person.

His great aunt, his uncle and mother all worked in education. Everyone in the Haupt family played

music intensively in their free time. All four sons played an instrument, all sang in the choir. Their

passion for music, however, stemmed from their father, a precision engineer by trade who con-

ducted church choirs and orchestra concerts in Zurich. In their late adolescent years, the brothers

founded the “teatro del cuore,” an independent theatre group with which they toured during the

summer holidays in villages throughout the Lower Engadine and later in Southern France as well.

“Music and theatre enabled us to discover and develop our personalities,” reflects Stefan Haupt

on these formative years.

Although his great passion at that time is the theatre, Stefan Haupt starts out as a primary school

teacher in a wealthy suburb of Zurich. Art and culture are, in accordance with the family tradition,

relegated to the realm of hobbies for the time being. But already at that time there are those who

D I R E C T O R ’ S P O R T R A I T / H A U P T S WIS S F I L M S 1
F ILMOG RA PH Y

2014 The Circle (Der Kreis), fiction

2012 Sagrada – The Mystery of

Creation, documentary

2010

2006
How About Love, fiction

A Song For Argyris (Ein Lied

STEFA N
HAUPT
für Argyris), documentary

2004 Downtown Switzerland

(co-director), documentary > Looking life in the face
2003 Moritz, fiction

2003 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – advised him to pursue an artistic career. And naturally there are doubts: “I just had the feeling I
Facing Death (Elisabeth
Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins was too young, too “unready” to already be disciplining the pupils as a father figure and urging
Gesicht sehen), documentary
them to stay within the lines,” he explains with his typical mixture of resoluteness and modesty.
2001 Utopia Blues, fiction
Just because Stefan Haupt doesn’t like being the focus of attention does not mean that he is easily
2001 Increschantüm (Heimweh),
documentary dissuaded from his position, however.

1998 I'm Just a Simple Person, In those days he continues touring with his theatre group throughout the country every
documentary
summer. When his younger brother asks him for help in preparing for acting school, he plucks up

A WARD S (SEL ECT I O N ) his courage and also signs up for the entrance exams. He is accepted in the theatre education

The Circle department and thus drops his career as a primary school teacher – against his parents’ will. As a
Berlinale Teddy Award 2014;
Berlinale Panorama Audience sideline, he gives courses and also works as a choir director. The eighties are often described with
Award 2014; Boston LGBT Film
Festival: Public Award 2014; amateur theatre, encounter groups and role-playing games being in vogue. “It was a very intensive
Los Angeles Outfest: Grand
Jury Award 2014; Torino GLBT time, and we did the craziest things,” recalls the director retrospectively.
Film Festival: Best Feature
Film 2014 Haupt brings his tremendous
sensitivity into question, pen-
Sagrada – The Mystery of Creation From theatre to film
Kyiv International Documentary sively deliberating until he finds
Film Festival 2013, Diploma Shortly after completing his studies at the Zurich Drama School his way back to that certainty
“Architecture”; EuroMedia which renders his films so can-
Award: “Kultur und Ästhetik”, he shoots his first film. It is a commissioned film for WWF and Pro
Vienna 2013 did and realistic.
Juventute: Parkzeit läuft aims to demonstrate how to get youth
A Song For Argyris
Swiss Film Prize: Nomination more involved. An acquaintance asks Stefan Haupt whether he
for Best Documentary Film;
Thessaloniki Documentary Film would like to direct the film. And he accepts, even though he doesn’t have any real experience in
Festival 2007: Audience Prize;
Los Angeles Greek Film film. Behind the camera is Jann Erne, who will go on to work as the cameraman in the director’s fu-
Festival 2007: Public Award;
Erasmus EuroMedia Award ture films. The young filmmaker knows that he is just as comfortable working with amateurs as with
2008: Country Medal for
Switzerland professional actors not only because of his work as a course leader, but also his experience with his
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross own theatre group “Theater Lunís.” Working with video in the theatre had already been going on for
Quality Award, Swiss Federal
Office of Culture 2003; Swiss quite some time. However, the fact that he has such a sure feeling for the language of film only now
Film Prize 2004: Nomination
for Best Documentary Film becomes apparent. In retrospect, Parkzeit läuft appears to be the experimental field of a gifted child
Utopia Blues playing with all the tricks of the trade – blithely, heedlessly, but with a steady hand. Rapid, abrupt cuts
Zurich Film Prize 2001;
Swiss Film Prize 2002: Best characterise the dramatic scenes, while slow motion is used for scenes of personal moments of real
Fiction Film / Best Actor; Max
Ophuels Prize Film Festival, delight. And already here Haupt’s sense of dramaturgy is evident, as well as his courage to scatter
Saarbrücken 2002: Screenplay
Award, Interfilm Award, Best throughout the narrative scenes seemingly devoid of action that convey much more with their visual
Newcomer Actor; International
Film Festival Molodist 2002, language than commentaries and dialogue could ever impart.
Kiev: Grand Prix
Only a few months later a cousin visiting from Canada triggers the idea for I‘m Just a Simple
I'm Just a Simple Person
Study Award, Swiss Federal Person: since his exchange year in the USA he is the designated English speaker in the family and
Office of Culture 1998
thus the 35-year-old director shows the young woman the country of her forefathers. She tells him

D I R E C T O R ’ S P O R T R A I T / H A U P T S WIS S F I L M S 2
 STEFA N
HAU PT
> Looking life in the face

about her grandmother – his 90-year-old great aunt Kathrin Engler who, as a young woman, followed

a letter that led her into the unknown. “It was immediately clear to me that I wanted to capture

this story on film,” recalls Stefan Haupt. Thanks to his gentle persistence, he is able to get his great

aunt to overcome her modesty to a certain degree and tell her story. Kathrin Engler was one of the

children who grew up in the reform school managed by his great gandfather in Grabs. She wasn’t

there because she was a difficult child, but because there was nowhere else for an illegitimate child

to go after the death of her mother. The orphan child fell in love with the headmaster’s son, but he

had left his parents’ home due to a conflict and immigrated to Canada. Five years later she received

his marriage proposal in his first and only letter to her. Without hesitation, the young woman, who

spoke neither French nor English and barely 20 years old, boarded the next boat to the New World

to begin a new life.

Stefan Haupt revives the family saga in luminous images set in winter landscapes. Despite

the personal reference, he creates a universal story about the oftentimes hard life of an emigrant

couple as well as a tribute to the power of trust and love. Once more, the director leaves an ample

amount of space between conversations for viewers to fill with Scattered throughout the nar-
rative scenes seemingly devoid
their own thoughts, without for one moment the vast-ness of
of action that convey much
the Canadian forests coming across as boring or tiresome. more with their visual lan-
guage than commentaries and
Luck is with the young filmmaker: someone recom-
dialogue could ever impart.
mends that he show his film to This Brunner, the former manag-

er of the art-house cinema in Zurich, who actually arranges for a Sunday matinee at the “Studiokino

Nord-Süd.” Then a preview in the press praising the film works a minor miracle: on the day of the

screening a long queue begins forming in front of the cinema and it soon becomes clear that there

would never be enough seats for everyone. On the spur of the moment, the stunned director organ-

ises a second screening right afterwards – and it also sells out. I‘m Just a Simple Person goes on to

become the documentary film discovery of the year in 1998, filling cinemas for a number of weeks.

This success enables Stefan Haupt to pursue a long-cherished project. In his “adoptive home,”

the Lower Engadine, where he had spent his holidays as a child and he had performed theatre with

his brothers in the villages, a place he returns to time and again as an adult to find peace and quiet,

he comes across the “Fränzlis da Tschlin”: a group of musicians that successfully combines tradi-

tional folk music from the region with contemporary compositions. With support from the Romansh

Television, Stefan Haupt creates the documentary film Increschantüm (Heimweh) in 2001. It is

in this film that his deep rootedness in music also manifests itself. His film extends far beyond a

portrait of musicians. It also portrays the atmosphere of the Engadine and an attitude towards life

D I R E C T O R ’ S P O R T R A I T / H A U P T S WIS S F I L M S 3
 STEFA N
HAUPT
> Looking life in the face

shaped by a melancholic love of the homeland. The word “Increschantüm” means to long for one’s

home. According to legend, the people from the Engadine all have one thing in common: even while

still in their native land they suffer from homesickness. Similar to the music by the Fränzlis, the film

also shifts between nostalgia and the present, without favouring one or the other.

International success

By now the filmmaker is confident that he wants to make a living from his metier. Until now he has

managed to keep his head above water by giving theatre courses and voice lessons. Attending some

of these courses was a woman whose son had suffered emotionally for years and ultimately com-

mitted suicide. Stefan Haupt forms the idea of processing his fate as a feature film. Utopia Blues,

starring Michael Finger in the leading role, becomes the second unexpected success. The sensitively

rendered feature film debut was honoured with the Zurich Film Prize in 2001 and the Swiss Film

Prize 2002 for Best Fiction Film as well as Best Actor. Three further awards followed at the Max

Ophuels Prize Film Festival in Saarbrücken.

The success of his feature film debut gives a long-dormant project new impetus: “Sometimes

you’re just lucky enough to embark on something at the right time,” describes the director when

he started filming Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Facing Death. Although the renowned expert on the

process of dying is already terminally ill, she agrees to allow Swiss filmmaker, unknown to her, to

visit her in her home in Arizona. The conversations with Kübler-Ross are central to the compelling

biography. They impressively demonstrate how, thanks to Stefan Haupt’s perseverance and serenity,

moments can be created that would otherwise never have been conveyed. He patiently provides

space for the shifting moods of this maverick and, at times, obstinate protagonist, thereby enabling

a rapprochement in which even contradictions have their place. At the same time, Haupt’s rigorous

research brings to light a plethora of archive footage that depicts both the private family history and

academic success of the main character, serving to elucidate her remarkable journey through life.

The documentary rapprochement on the internationally celebrated and equally controver-

sial figure becomes a magnet for the audience: some 300,000 viewers see the film in cinemas in

Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Spain – a figure that no other Swiss documentary film has ever

attained. Stefan Haupt’s success takes him by surprise: “Emotionally, I was still in the early stages

of filmmaking and was suddenly celebrated as a successful filmmaker. I felt a great deal of pressure

not to fail with the next film.”

Perhaps this is one reason, among others, that the next film by the budding star on the Swiss

filmmaking horizon does not deal with a story written by him. Instead he directs a film for television.

D I R E C T O R ’ S P O R T R A I T / H A U P T S WIS S F I L M S 4
 STEFA N
HAUPT
> Looking life in the face

Moritz, based on the screenplay by Christa Capaul, is also the only film by Stefan Haupt that was

not screened in the cinema. It is about a young boy whose mother has to go to the hospital; this

causes a stir in the village because Moritz is entrusted to the care of his gay neighbours. Moritz

ranks among the most successful films in Swiss dialect produced by Swiss Television. This success

is certainly due to, apart from the reconciliatory plot and the appeal for more tolerance and mutual

understanding, the film’s authentic dialogues – on which Stefan Haupt had taken an active part –

and his assuredness as a director, which he has been honing since his time in the theatre, all of

which lends the resulting film a high degree of naturalness.

Political engagement

One could have the impression that Stefan Haupt’s films are apolitical. But that would mean failing

to go beyond the surface. There is at least one socio-political dimension to the themes in all of his

films. Hence, the increasing aggravation of the social climate and tightening of political dealings

in Switzerland lead to his next film. In 2004 he asked three director colleagues – Fredi M. Murer,

Kaspar Kasics and Christian Davi – whether they would be willing to venture a film experiment with

him: each would author their own contribution to the film, taking stock the general atmosphere in

their native Zurich, the epicentre of banking, Switzerland’s metropolis of culture and commerce. The

experiment succeeds, resulting in the loosely composed anthology film Downtown Switzerland.

It can be viewed as a statement against the right-wing populist politics that is gaining ever more

ground even in the “red-green” Zurich with its vote of no confidence and slogans designed to create

fear. Concomitantly, it is an extremely fascinating experience for the four involved to discover what

directors are able to achieve concertedly, “democratically” artistically – and where this collaboration

sets boundaries when opinions diverge too greatly. The bonus material on the DVD provides further

facets of the production, for example, how Stefan Haupt succeeds in inducing statements from

politicians in lengthy interviews, rarely heard in this form, that reveal their real motives.

But Stefan Haupt’s most political film in the conventional sense is A Song For Argyris in

2006. This documentary film also has a longstanding back story: Haupt has known the Greek author

Argyris Sfountouris, the main character in his film, since working as a course leader and theatre

director. Insightfully, and again this time based on in-depth research and an abundance of archive

footage, he depicts Argyris’ attempt to reconcile his fate shaped by a war crime. The focus of the

film deals with recounting the Distomo massacre in which the author’s well-nigh entire family fell

victim: in 1944 German troops occupied the Greek village and slaughtered anyone who stood in their

path. Above and beyond the historic reprocessing, Haupt’s documentary film is also a blazing

D I R E C T O R ’ S P O R T R A I T / H A U P T S WIS S F I L M S 5
A BOUT T H E A U T H O R

Nina Scheu is a film journalist,

board member of Switzerland’s
National Association of Film
Journalists as well as deputy
head of communications at
syndicom – Union of media
and communication. She lives
in Zurich.
STEFA N
HAUPT
> Looking life in the face

denunciation against the inhumanity of every war and an appeal to the governments involved to

acknowledge past injustice in order to pave the way for reconciliation.

His film How About Love (2010) also deals with a political theme in the background. Osten-

sibly, it deals with the identity crisis of a successful, middle-aged Swiss surgeon facing the emotional

conflict which ensues in a refugee camp in Thailand on the Burmese border. Stefan Haupt travelled

throughout the troubled region for numerous weeks in order to come as close as possible to the

reality of the situation. A number of roles are cast with victims, members of the Karen folk group

who had to flee from persecution by the Burmese regime. Despite the fictitious story, How About

Love achieves an extraordinary authenticity, not least due to Stefan Haupt’s tremendous sensitiv-

ity and empathy. Notable is also the fact that in this very film, which examines family relationships

intensively, the director casts his wife, actress Eleni Haupt, and two of his four children in supporting

roles. In the film, he was able to combine the private and professional – important poles in Stefan

Haupt’s life.

This too is one of the filmmaker’s character traits: there Despite the fictitious story, How
About Love achieves a remark-
is no half measure. When he takes on a task – be it assuming re-
able authenticity, not least due
sponsibilities as a father, shooting a film or the serving as presi- to Stefan Haupt’s extraordinary
sensitivity and empathy.
dent of the Swiss Filmmakers Association ARF/FDS from 2008

to 2010 – then he devotes his entire attention to it. Because the time required to deal with the

conflicting Swiss film policy in the manner he regards proper, however, Stefan Haupt passed on this

function to a successor, not least to be able to devote the time to his film projects and his production

firm Fontana Film. It comes as no surprise that he is already occupied with several new projects:

Sagrada, a documentary film, and Der Kreis, a feature film – and thereafter a children’s feature film.
Text: Nina Scheu; based on an interview conducted with Stefan Haupt in September 2010.

D I R E C T O R ’ S P O R T R A I T / H A U P T S WIS S F I L M S 6
 Directed by: Stefan Haupt Sound: Ingrid Städeli, Thomas Cast: Matthias Hungerbühler, Sven Production: Contrast Film, Zürich;
Written by: Stefan Haupt, Christian Gassmann, Gregor Rosenberger Schelker, Marianne Sägebrecht, Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen
Felix, Ivan Madeo, Urs Frey Editing: Christoph Menzi Anatole Taubman, Antoine Monot Jr., World Sales: Wide House, Paris
Cinematography: Tobias Dengler Music: Federico Bettini Stefan Witschi, Markus Merz, Ernst Original Version: Swiss-German
Ostertag, Röbi Rapp, Babett Arens, (english subtitles)
Peter Jecklin, Marie Leuenberger [Link]

Haupt interweaves the fictive

scenes involving the bar and the
TH E
CIRC LE
documentary interviews with
Ostertag and Rapp so elegantly that
it results in a veritable portrait of
conventions which is as entertain-
ing as it is emotional. Christian Jungen,
Frame, 07.09.2014

The film is much more than a histor-

ical review. (…) The events of that
time are rendered so vividly that it
truly makes one’s flesh crawl.
Matthias Lerf, SonntagsZeitung, 07.09.2014

(...) In the fictionalised part two

young men fall in love and share
their euphoria as well as their
strokes of fate; in the documentary
part we learn that the two are
elderly men by now – and still a 2014 Colour DCP 101’ Der Kreis
couple. And as the closing credits
roll, it is indeed the most endear-

Z
ing Swiss screen romance in years. urich, in the mid 50s: The bashful teacher Ernst Ostertag becomes a member of the gay organi-
Georges Wyrsch, Berner Zeitung, 17.09.2014
sation Der Kreis (The Circle). There he gets to know the transvestite star Röbi Rapp – and
In telling the story of a shy young immediately falls head over heels in love with him. Ernst finds himself torn between his bourgeois
teacher and his drag-artist lover
caught in the shifting social cur- existence and his commitment to homosexuality, for Röbi it is about his first serious relationship. As
rents of 1950s Zurich, Haupt has the two dissimilar men defend their love, they witness the heyday and decline of this Europe-wide
chosen to stage proceedings mostly
as handsomely mounted period dra- pioneering organisation for gay emancipation.
ma, interspersed with present-day
talking heads that include the now-
septuagenarian protagonists them-
selves. Guy Lodge, Variety, 31.03.2014

Haupt not only brings a gripping

chronicle of contemporary history
to light in his film, but his narrative
in Der Kreis is every bit as captivat-
ing as the love story is moving. Irene
Genhart, Der Landbote, 14.02.2014

As well as being a gay film, it is

above all a wonderful plea for free-
dom to love. Domenico La Porta, Cineu-
ropa, 15.02.2014

F I C T I O N / H A U P T S WIS S F I L M S 7
 Written and directed by: Stefan Haupt Editing: Christof Schertenleib Production: Fontana Film GmbH, Zürich; World Sales: Atrix Films GmbH, Starnberg
Cinematography: Parick Lindenmaier Music: Tomas Korber, Johann Sebastian Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen, Zürich Original Version: Catalan/German/Span-
Sound: Francesc Canals, Guido Keller Bach (dirigiert von Jordi Savall) ish/English/French (german subtitles)

Stefan Haupt deftly intertwines

the biography of the building and
SAGRADA – THE MYSTERY OF
CREATION
its architect with the continuation
of its construction. He brings the
countless catalyses, contemporary
witnesses and craftsmen to the
fore. (…) The director succeeds in
creating a compact work which
blends facts with philosophical
questions. The film renders compre-
hensible the enigma of Sagrada. It
bows to Gaudi’s ambition, revels in
the spatial force of the cathedral
and celebrates it as the apogee of
Catalan architecture. Andres Herzog,
Tages-Anzeiger, 21.11.2012

A poetical documentary film which

touches on essential issues. Pow-
erful. Johanna Tirntha, Der Tagesspiegel,
20.12.2012
2012 DCP-Harddisk colour 95’

One cannot help but think of the

L
Tower of Babel when faced with a Sagrada Familia in Barcelona: a unique, fascinating building project with Antoni Gaudí, a bril-
Stefan Haupt’s new film. He under-
stands it as a ‘biography of a buil- liant architect, an enormous number of workers and a history full of extreme highs and lows.
ding’, shedding light on its genesis The history of this building, which has been under construction since 1882 and is today only half
and transmitting it progressively,
mosaic-like, right into the present. finished, is the point of departure for a film about this mysterious process of “creation,” the ques-
(…) Informatively compact, he tion of our human creative power and to what ends we would like to use it.
enables the viewer a singularly
close look at the mysteries of one
of the most fascinating buildings
in the world. Patrick Lindenmaier’s
agile camera lends a striking light-
ness to Haupt’s film. (…) The film
far exceeds the boundaries of an
architecture film and is an outstan-
ding homage bearing witness to the
creativeness of human beings and,
in their concerted effort, their capa-
bility of achieving magnificence.
Irene Genhart, Filmbulletin, Nov. 2012

D O C U M E N T A R Y / H A U P T S WIS S F I L M S 8
 Written and directed by: Stefan Haupt Music: Michel Wintsch Production: Triluna Film, Zürich; World Rights: Triluna Film, Zürich
Cinematography: Parick Lindenmaier Cast: Adrian Furrer, Martin Hug, Fontana Film, Zürich; Schweizer Original Version: Swiss-German/
Sound: Marco Teufen Andrea Pfaehler, Jorm Leun Hkam, Fernsehen; Teleclub German/English/Thai/Karen (german
Editing: Stefan Kälin U Thein Win subtitles)

Although the story is fictitious,

it seems to be authentic. This has to
H OW A B OUT
L OV E
do with the 49-year-old director,
Stefan Haupt, who dispenses with
images aiming to appeal to tour-
ists and with clichés – an everlast-
ing, lurking danger when filming
in exotic, faraway places. (…) The
striking cast performs cogently,
also in the supporting roles. Adrian
Furrer credibly plays the role of a
Protestant doctor who deserts his
principles when Eros leverages his
rationale. (…) A drama that deli-
cately touches on the fundamental
issues of life. Christian Jungen, NZZ am
Sonntag, 29.08.2010

Painstakingly and plausibly (…)

Stefan Haupt tells us, against the
backdrop of a real, ongoing catas- 2010 35 mm colour 100’
trophe, of the value and limitations
of engagement and of the helpless-

F
ness of a helper. Christoph Schneider, ritz Reinhart is a successful surgeon in Zurich suddenly faced with the suffering in a refugee
Tages-Anzeiger, 24.08.2010
camp on the Burmese border during his holiday in Thailand. Being a doctor, he is confronted
How About Love impressively suc- with the issue of providing immediate emergency aid. He has no idea that this is going to last an
ceeds in taking stock of our west-
ern weariness of civilisation. Alexan- entire year and that as a “helper” he will be caught in a turmoil of emotions that challenge his exist-
dra Stäheli, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 25.08.2010
ence as a family man, even his entire life, abruptly and radically.

The images, carefully composed

with a great deal of sensitivity for
colour moods and lighting, surround
this desire to immerse ourselves
and allow the European body to
take part in the dark lushness of
the Southeast Asian vegetation for
a certain time. (…) It is a remark-
able feat for a film to conjoin a
complex psychological issue – the
precise commingling of a personal
mission with a desire for existential
intensity and ultimate clarity – with
the resulting excessive demands.
Bettina Spoerri, Filmbulletin, 03.08.2010

F I C T I O N / H A U P T S WIS S F I L M S 9
 Written and directed by: Stefan Haupt Editing: Stefan Kälin Schweizer Fernsehen; RSI Radio- World Rights: Fontana Film, Zürich
Cinematography: Patrick Lindenmaier Music: Tomas Korber, Jorgos Stergiou televisione Svizzera, Télévision Suisse Original Version: German/Swiss-German/
Sound: Martin Witz Production: Fontana Film, Zürich; Romande, SRG Greek/French (german subtitles)

Stefan Haupt works together with

the protagonist to chart his convo-
A SONG F OR
ARGYRI S
luted journey through life (…) and
creates the moving story of a man
shaped by the horror of his child-
hood, not broken by it but instead
championed to do more for hu-
manity. Geri Krebs, Der Bund, 03.11.2006

With a tremendous amount of sen-

sitivity, Haupt has assembled
Argyris’ story in images and a
wide range of interviews. But he
tells more than historic facts. Like
Argyris, he continues to question
how one deals with grief and the
historic guilt of a folk. (…) And the
life story of this man is, despite all
its gravity, also a catharsis and an
excellent example of how one’s
own life can be inspired by that 2006 35 mm colour 105’ Ein Lied für Argyris
of another. Sonja Wenger, ensuite kultur-
magazin Nr. 47, 11/2006

F
our-year-old Argyris Sfountouris survived a brutal massacre committed by the German occupy-
Sfountouris calls the film ‘my testa-
ment’. But actually the touching ing forces in the Greek village of Distomo in 1944. He loses his parents and 30 relatives; more
film is a testament to those who than 200 village inhabitants are slain within less than two hours. Argyris is sent to the Pestalozzi
could not make their farewells, and
it is also a hymn to life. Children’s Village in Switzerland by Red Cross as an orphan and later obtained his PhD in mathe-
Christiane Schlötzer, Süddeutsche Zeitung,
matics and astrophysics at the ETH Zurich.
16./17.05.2007
A man of winning charm and melancholy cheerfulness, he has spent his entire life tackling
A Song For Argyris cannot render the horror he had to go through as a little boy. He has not tried to come to terms with it emotionally,
the inconceivable comprehensible.
But the gentle human voice resoun- but instead has attempted to live with it and do his utmost to prevent it from happening again. A
ding in this cinematic hymn refuses film about dealing with personal grief – and historic guilt.
to go unheard. This is not a film like
many others. Not because it is so
rendered, but because it retreats
entirely to reveal a remarkable man
and his unbearable fate. Stefan Volk,
Filmbulletin Nr. 8, 11/2006

D O C U M E N T A R Y / H A U P T S WIS S F I L M S 10
 Written and directed by: Christian Cinematography: Pio Corradi, Jann Editing: Stefan Kälin Zürich; Hugofilm Productions,Zürich
Davi, Stefan Haupt, Kaspar Kasics, Erne, Kaspar Kasics, Pierre Mennel, Music: Tomas Korber, Galoppierende Original Version: Swiss-German/
Fredi M. Murer Filip Zumbrunn Zuversicht, Minimetal & Luxus German/English/French (german
Sound: Christian Davi, Jann Erne, Production: Fontana Film, Zürich; subtitles)
Matteo Pellegrini, Lukas Piccolin eXtra-Film Zürich; FMM Film, Zürich;

They weren’t intending on portray-

ing the Zurich idyll, nor a depres-
D OWNTOWN
SWITZ ERL A ND
sive documentation of blatant
grievances; they weren’t looking to
simply document their own images
of Zurich, but instead really find out
about the condition and mood
in their city. The delighted reactions
to Downtown Switzerland, but even
more the criticism, prove they have
indeed succeeded. (…) The authors
have achieved something that
Swiss filmmaking has nearly lost:
they react collectively and practi-
cally instinctively to their surround-
ings, they perceive them in a man-
ner that leads to (re)cognition.
Michael Sennhauser, Der Bund, 03.11.2004

Downtown Switzerland can be

understood as a sort of reality 2004 35 mm colour 94’
check and leaves behind a deliber-
ately ambivalent impression. With

Z
such successful associations and urich in the autumn of 2003: an insidious change in political climate prompts filmmakers Chris-
fragmentary reflection, the ques-
tion arises as to which ‘Zurichs’ are tian Davi, Stefan Haupt, Kaspar Kasics and Fredi M. Murer to embark on a trail-hunting tour of
real. And a craving for more. (…) their city. They follow the pulse of life in the Swiss metropolis of culture and commerce and weave
Hence, this politically motivated
auteur film, realised without much their collected footage into a collective film: four filmmakers, four cameras, four points of view.
ado, has achieved its aim and lives The resulting cinematic chronicle looks over the shoulders of global players and political refugees,
up to the golden age of Swiss
documentary film. Marcel Elsener, Die small-scale businessmen and trendsetters, bus drivers and tram drivers, artists and young politi-
Wochenzeitung, 21.10.2004
cians of the right-wing Swiss People’s Party and portrays the passions of totally average Zurich

The extraordinary thing is that this citizens. The observations of everyday life render the film a mirror of Switzerland as a whole.
is not an anthology film comprised
of four parts. On the contrary, four
signatures converge here to form a
single, amusing and absolutely eye-
opening ‘text’ about Zurich. Thanks
to the editor Stefan Kälin, the four
or five main argumentative threads
are interwoven to form an overall
impression with a surprisingly
homogenous effect. Christoph Egger,
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 22.10.2004

D O C U M E N T A R Y / H A U P T S WIS S F I L M S 11
 Directed by: Stefan Haupt Cinematography: Stéphane Kuty Cast: Jonas Rohr, Anatole Taubman, Production: Triluna Film, Zürich;
Written by: Christa Capaul, Stefan Sound: Patrick Becker Rudolph Straub, Lilian Fritz, Heidi Schweizer Fernsehen
Haupt Editing: Stefan Kälin Diggelmann World Rights: Telepool, Zürich
Music: Roman Glaser Original Version: Swiss-German

Director Stefan Haupt succeeds in

holding on course the various
MO RI T Z
threads of this melodrama, written
by him and Christa Capaul. He
offers suspense with numerous
twists and even surprises with
a cathartic portion of humour, at
the latest when the events threaten
to lapse into tragedy or kitsch. (…)
There is also young acting talent to
discover here – with the ten-year-
old Jonas Rohr leading the way
in his impressive mastering of the
title role. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 26.10.2003

Moritz adeptly plays with clichés,

without self- righteous garrulity
or a sense of educational urgency.
The film takes up a subject, still
taboo for many, and simultaneously
delivers excellent entertainment. 2003 Beta SP colour 87’
Berner Zeitung, 24.10.2003

A
Film and figures are set in an en- single mother has to go to the hospital for an indefinite length of time. Diagnosis: a brain
vironment that depicts a blend of
rural and urban, and actually quite tumour. The care of her 10-year-old son Moritz is entrusted to the neighbours, a gay couple
typical for today’s Switzerland: who look after him with the best of care. It doesn’t take long before rumours begin circulating in the
no longer the country idyllic, but
also not yet the urban metropolis. village. When the boy’s grandmother arrives to take Moritz home with her, he rejects the idea. He
An intermediate stage, so to speak, wants to stay with Andi and Ralph.
without cynicism or ridicule. In a
nutshell: everyday life in Switzer-
land. Press release Swiss Television

F I C T I O N / H A U P T S WIS S F I L M S 12
 Written and directed by: Stefan Haupt Sound: Thomas Thümena, Music: Klaus Wiese, Peter Landis World Sales: First Hand Films, Zürich
Cinematography: Jann Erne, Martin Witz Production: Fontana Film, Zürich; Original Version: English/German/
Christian Davi, Patrick Lindenmaier Editing: Stefan Kälin Schweizer Fernsehen, SRG Swiss-German (german subtitles)

E L I S A B E T H KÜB L E R -R OSS –
Stefan Haupt does not have a hero-
ine’s biography in mind. Also due
FA CI NG
DEA T H
to his sources: the two sisters, his
most important interview partners,
and especially Kübler-Ross herself,
speak so unadorned, directly and
freely about real life that notions
of mystification cannot even arise.
(…) As a filmmaker, he is especially
interested in her personality – and
her own confrontation with soci-
ety’s taboo theme of death and
dying. Kathrin Halter, Tages-Anzeiger,
17.01.2003

Stefan Haupt’s documentary film is

not only entertaining and touching,
but surprisingly frequently witty as
well. Thurgauer Zeitung, 27.03.2003

After visiting the woman who has 2003 35 mm colour 98’ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen
struggled for a dignified death
and now herself awaits death, the

T
film chronologically traces a life he film centres on conversations with the Swiss doctor Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, who passed
that has placed a calling above
family duties and propagating the away in 2004 after having lived many years in seclusion in the Arizona desert following a num-
message above academic research, ber of strokes and, as she herself said, awaiting death. Born in 1926 in Zurich, she studied medicine
all in an astute concentration of
characteristic situations. Eleonore against her parents’ will. Later she battled for recognition as a psychiatrist in the USA and attained
Frey, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 17.01.2003
international fame with her book “On Death and Dying.” Now she looks back on her life, tells of her

Facing Death is the tender rap- childhood, her work and how she herself attempts to deal with ageing and dying. Interviews with
prochement of an exasperating per- her sisters, friends and colleagues combined with archive footage provide insight into the life’s work
son. Haupt forgoes singing a simple
song of praise and instead unfurls of this extraordinary woman.
a broad range of contradictions.
(…) He has precisely carved out the
most important stations in the life
of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. His visual
language is memorable, the images
have a clear cadre and are swiftly
edited. Hans Jürg Zinsli, Mittelland
Zeitung, 16.01.2003

D O C U M E N T A R Y / H A U P T S WIS S F I L M S 13
 Written and directed by: Stefan Haupt Music: Tino Ulrich Production: Triluna Film, Zürich; World Rights: Triluna Film, Zürich
Cinematography: Stéphane Kuty Cast: Michael Finger, Babett Arens, Fontana Film, Zürich; Schweizer Original Version: Swiss-German
Sound: Patrick Becker Tino Ulrich, Ettore Cella, Bruno Fernsehen; SRG
Editing: Stefan Kälin Cathomas, Jaap Achterberg, Muriel
Wenger, Andrea Schmid

Michael Finger impressively em-

braces the love of life and unbridled
UTOPI A
BL UES
lifeforce of a young person radically
and without restraint. (…) Utopia
Blues is stunning due not only to
the screenplay polished right down
to the last detail, but also to the
performance by a very convincing
cast. Richard Walder, Bündner Tagblatt,
30.08.2001

Cinematographer Stéphane Kuthy

succeeds in creating magical
sequences for a stirring film which
Stefan Haupt, as the screenwriter,
renders into a sensational feature
film. Rolf Mühlemann, Tele, 34/2001

Utopia Blues is a serious, recon-

structed story illustrating how
youthful creativity can suddenly 2001 35 mm colour 97’
change into psychosis. (…) Haupt’s
scenes demonstrate how strenu-

T
ous a raving everyday life can be, he film tells the story of Rafael, an adolescent on the verge of manhood who attempts to make
as well as the state of uncertainty
associated with mania and the right his dream of total freedom become reality in spite of the demands made by society. He is
tone of lonely desperation.” utterly determined to conquer the world with his Utopia Blues Band, at any cost and on his terms –
Christoph Schneider, Tages-Anzeiger,

23.08.2001
impatient, sly, charming and radical. But his aspirations get out of hand and he gets off track. Rafael

is forced to recognise how close freedom and separation really are.

Haupt’s film possesses a strong
poetic-musical component. It is a
story about powerlessness and
rage, fears and hopes, crashing and
yearning, but above all about vitality
and a zest for life. Not forgetting the
music, which at once frees and
inhibits. Utopia Blues is one of the
best Swiss feature films in recent
years, because it’s coherent and
boundless. Rolf Breiner, Bündner Zeitung,
09.07.2001

F I C T I O N / H A U P T S WIS S F I L M S 14
 Written and directed by: Stefan Haupt Sound: Thomas Thümena Music: Ils Fränzlis da Tschlin World Rights: Fontana Film, Zürich
Cinematography: Hans Schürmann Editing: Myriam Flury Production: Fontana Film, Zürich; Original Version: Romansch
Televisiun Rumantscha (german subtitles)

Stefan Haupt succeeded brilliantly

in capturing the spirit of the
I N CR E SCH A NTÜM
( HEIMWEH)
“Fränzlimusik.” When the camera
holds to the music on the flowing
Inn, you feel how harmoniously
the region and music have bonded
here. (…) A captivating docu-musi-
cal. Gerhart Waeger, Neue Zürcher Zeitung,
19.01.1998

Broad subject matter rendered co-

herent by the wonderfully melan-
cholic music. Elio Pellin, Berner Zeitung,
31.01.2001

In a calm narrative flow, Stefan

Haupt portrays the history and
origins of this music: he uses it and
the five musicians in an associative
montage as an opportunity to listen
closely to not only the folk music, 2001 Beta SP colour 68’
but also to the Engadine soul. Andeas
Stock, St. Galler Tagblatt, 15.02.2001

“
Increschantüm” is the Romansch word for homesickness; it also means longing. “Ils Fränzlis

da Tschlin” is the name of a group that plays folk music from the Engadine. The name refers

to Franz Josef Waser, a legendary blind fiddler credited with having perfect pitch. He coined the

term “Fränzlimusik” with members of his family in the second half of the 19th century. When the

Fränzlis perform, it is often said that the people of the Engadine all have one thing in common: they

suffer from homesickness even while still in their native land. Indeed, a longing for home seems to

be deep rooted in the souls of those who come from the Engadine. A film about the spirit of this

music and the people who perform it and those who listen to it, about their culture and history. It

is also a film about region these people come from as well as about the love and longing for this

homeland.

D O C U M E N T A R Y / H A U P T S WIS S F I L M S 15
 Written and directed by: Stefan Haupt Editing: Kathrin Plüss Production: Fontana Film, Zürich; World Rights: Fontana Film, Zürich
Cinematography: Jann Erne Music: John Abercrombie, Ralph Schweizer Fernsehen; SRG Original Version: English/German
Sound: Dieter Lengacher Towner, Emma und Gregor Huber- (german subtitles)
Schäpper, children’s choir Grabs

Haupt’s documentary film about the

ordinary and simple life of a Swiss
I ' M JUST A
SIMPL E PERS ON
woman is so tender that you
leave the cinema with a sense
of pure joy in your heart. Züritipp,
19.02.1999

The face of the aged yet beauti-

ful woman captures the viewer’s
complete attention. (…) I’m Just a
Simple Person is a film of rare
simplicity in terms of content and
form – and therein also lies the
beauty and richness of this master-
ful portrait. Andreas Stock, St. Galler
Tagblatt, 17.06.1999

The portrayed woman’s attitude

towards life has a direct impact on
the formal epitome here, as well as
on the rhythm. That’s hard to find 1998 Beta SP colour 49'
these days. (…) The viewer is simply
moved by the manner in which the

K
90-year-old woman is able to tell athrin Engler, an orphan from the St. Gallen region of the Rhine Valley, was just 22 when she
her life story in just a few words
and slow pace. The power of the accepted her childhood boyfriend’s marriage proposal and immigrated to Canada in 1929.
film feeds on the aura of her entire The portrait of this extremely modest 90-year-old woman not only reveals a fascinating piece of
being. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 28.10.1998
social history and Swiss emigration history; it also unveils a wonderful, fairytale-like love story –

one that came within a whisker of not happening.

D O C U M E N T A R Y / H A U P T S WIS S F I L M S 16