Director’s note
On August 11, 1999, I boarded an early morning train from Zurich to Strasburg to witness the solar eclipse that would take place on that day in the Alsace and southern Germany. There, at the Quai de la Petite France, I waited for the great moment among hundreds and maybe even thousands of other people. We were lucky. The sun was shining at noon. The growing darkness, the silence of the birds and the people, the pallid light, the sudden coolness: it was a magical, uncanny moment and instinctively, I understood why solar eclipses were, and often still are, interpreted as fateful omens of disaster sent by the gods.
Eleven years later, I received a small package from Lukas Hartmann. The well-known Swiss author had sent me his latest novel Finsteres Glück (Dark Fortune): his narrative opens on that very same day. I started reading the book and was instantly spellbound.
The boy Yves: with a dark secret, growing up in a family that does not give him warmth and comfort; the relationship of his parents overshadowed by massive mutual accusations, financial pressure, and domestic violence. As the only member of his family to survive a car crash, Yves is left entirely to himself and utterly defenseless.
The psychologist, Eliane: a single mother, autonomous, who takes a cool, rational approach to the pain of leaving childhood times behind. The great love of her life a failure; but she has come to terms. In her professional life, feelings and longings are classified and domesticated.
These two people encounter one another – on the day of the solar eclipse. The result of that encounter is a tender, unusual «love story». The boy instinctively senses that the trauma therapist can give him the support he desperately needs. At the same time, he unwittingly confronts her with her own repressed grief. She has been given the mandate to cure Yves; the boy, in turn, becomes a catalyst for her and her family. Eliane’s daughters cannot escape the maelstrom; they too are drawn in, forced to face their own emotional injuries.
The family, a universal theme that affects and touches all of us; the thin, increasingly blurred line between professional and personal life; the struggle for love, belonging, and warmth; questions of guilt and innocence – ultimately, only one thing counts and that is the strength to confront unsparingly our own experiences and the abysses of our own fate. I was moved and doubly pleased by the fact that Matthias Grünewald’s Isenheim Altar in Colmar plays an important role in the novel. I have known and loved these late medieval paintings since my own childhood.
Stefan Haupt
1961Born in Zurich
1978-79
AFS Student-Exchange-Program in Jeannette, PA, USA
A-levels, piano, oboe and singing lessons, choir master
1985-88Theatre Academy Zurich
(graduated as theatre pedagogue)
since 1989Freelance film director
foundation of Fontana Film (since 2004 Fontana Film GmbH)
since 2008President of the Swiss Filmmakers’ association
Married, four children, lives in Zurich
Filmografie
2016 DARK FORTUNE (Finsteres Glück), feature, 114 min., screenplay and director; Production: Triluna Film in co-production with Fontana Film
based on the novel by Lukas Hartmann
2015 MARE NOSTRUM – A CONCERT. A JOURNEY. (Mare Nostrum – Ein Konzert. Eine Reise), documentary, 57 min., directed by Michelle Brun and Stefan Haupt; Production: Vivante Productions
2014 THE CIRCLE (Der Kreis), docu-fiction, 102 min., screenplay and director;
Production: Contrast Film
Teddy-Award and Audience Award at the 64. Berlin International Film Festival
Section Panorama Dokumente 2014
19 additional Jury- and Audience Awards at over 170 Film Festivals
Switzerland’s official submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards
Swiss Film Award 2015: Winner in the categories: “Best Feature”, “Best Screenplay”,
“Best Actor”, “Best Supporting Actor”
2012 SAGRADA – THE MYSTERY OF CREATION (Sagrada – El Misteri de la Creació), documentary, 90. min., author, director and producer
Erasmus EuroMedia Awards 2013, Vienna “Special Prize for outstanding performance on
cultural history”, Kyiv International Documentary Film Festival “Kinolitopys”, Winner in nomination “Architecture”
Locarno International Film Festival, Switzerland – semaine de la critique, Miami International Film Festival, USA, 2013, ArtFiFa, Festival Int. du Film sur l´Art, Montreal, Canada – in competition, 2013, Thessaloniki Documentary Filmfestival, Greece, 2013, FCLM Festival du Cinéma Latino-américain de Montréal, 2013, Doc Planet, Warsaw, Poland – in competition, ARTECINEMA, Naples, Italy, 2013, ADFF, Architecture and Design Film Festival, New York, USA
2010 How About Love, feature, 105 min., screenplay and director;
Production: Triluna Film in co-production with Fontana Film
Nomination Swiss Film Award 2011 “Best Supporting Actor”
Hofer Filmtage, 2010, Int. Indian Film Festival, 2010, Max Ophüls Preis Filmfestival
Saarbrücken, 2011, Berlin & Beyond, San Francisco, 2011, various Festivals and Screenings in
Lisbon, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Brussels, Yogyakarta, Hanoi, Bangkok, Chiang Mai.
2006 A SONG FOR ARGYRIS (Ein Lied für Argyris), documentary, 105 min.,
author, director and producer
Nomination Swiss Film Award 2007 “Best Documentary”
Award “Succès Zürich”, 3rd place
Audience Award Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival 2007
Audience Award Los Angeles Greek Film Festival 2007
“Kontakt” Int. Dokumentarfilmfestival Kiev 2007, DOK.fest München 2007, Festival IFFI
Innsbruck, Locarno, Sarajevo, Bogotà, Kerala (all 2007), Nikosia, Tirana, St. Petersburg (2008).
2004 Downtown Switzerland, documentary, 94 min., concept, co-author,
co-director and co-producer with Christian Davi, Kaspar Kasics, Fredi M. Murer
Molodist Internationales Filmfestival Kiev, 2005
Max Ophüls Preis Filmfestival Saarbrücken, 2007
2003 Moritz, tv-feature, 87 min., co-author and director;
Production: Triluna Film in co-production with Fontana Film
Baden-Baden (nominated for TV-movie Award), Solothurn, Philadelphia, Miami,
Freiburg, Montreal, Toronto, Korea.
2002 ELISABETH KÜBLER-ROSS – FACING DEATH (Elisabeth Kübler Ross – Dem Tod ins Gesicht sehen), documentary, 98 min., author, director and producer
Nomination Swiss Film Award 2004 “Best Documentary”
FDHA quality award
Molodist International Film Festival Kyiv, 2003
DOK.fest Munich, Doc Aviv, MAX Film Festival Hong Kong, 2004, et al.
2001 Utopia Blues, feature, 97 min., screenplay and director;
Production: Triluna Film in co-production with Fontana Film
Swiss Film Award 2002 «Best Feature» and «Best Actor»
Zürich Film Award,
FDHA study grant
Max Ophüls Award 2002 «Best Screenplaye» and «Best Actor»
The Grand Prix at Molodist International Film Festival Kyiv 2002
San Francisco, Solothurn, Saarbrücken, Pristina, Schwerin (competition), Bolzano, Toru,
Montecattini, Locarno, Skopje, Jakarta, Mons, Riga, Sevilla, Trepianske Teplice, Thessaloniki,
Pusan, Bratislava, Stuttgart, Québec, Sousse, Colombo, Singapore, Valladolid, et al.
2000 IncreschantÜm (Homesickness), documentary, 68 min.,
author, director and producer
1998 I’m just a simple person, documentary, 49 min.,
author, director and producer
FDHA study grant
In Development
Zwingli – THE REFORMER (Zwingli – Der Reformator) (working title), feature,
co-writer and director
Production: C-Films (Anne Walser)
Zurich Diary (Zürcher Tagebuch), essayistic documentary
screenplay, director and production