Richard Dindo
2021Charlotte : « Vie ou théâtre ? »
Richard Dindo
Portrait of the German and Jewish painter who lived during the war in the south of France, in Villefranche-sur-Mer, where she painted 769 gouaches which recount her life, from her childhood, the suicide of her mother, her relationship to her father, to her mother-in-law, the singer Paula Lindberg, to a teacher whom she was secretly in love with, her flight to France, the reunion with her grandparents, until her arrest by the Gestapo who sent her to Auschwitz where she was assassinated in 1943.
Charlotte : « Vie ou théâtre ? »
Max Frisch, Journal I-III
Richard Dindo
A “filmic re-reading” of Max Frisch's novella Montauk (1974) and of excerpts from his published diaries. It is neither a biographical portrait of Frisch – who was one of the greatest 20th century Swiss writers – nor a filmed adaptation of the novel. Instead, Dindo returns to the locations the author describes in his texts, searching for traces of past events that may turn out to have been more imagined than real.
Max Frisch, Journal I-III
Dani, Michi, Renato & Max
Richard Dindo
A three-part documentary about four young men who were active members of the Zurich youth movement in the early 1980s and died tragically as a result of “accidents” with the involvement of the police. The exuberant Dani and Michi stole a motorbike to go on a joyride; a police car gave chase and caused their fatal crash. Renato, a young junkie raised in orphanages, was shot by the police while driving a stolen car. Max, an innocent bystander at a youth demonstration, was clubbed on the head by a police officer, and later died of complications caused by his head injuries. Taken together, these three incidents reflect the tense and violent atmosphere of the time and the conflict between repressive authority and a young generation desperate for freedom
Dani, Michi, Renato & Max
Die Erschiessung des Landesverräters Ernst S.
Richard Dindo
During World War II 17 men were put to death by Swiss bureaucracy. The reconstruction of the case of Ernst S. fueled a controversy about collective guilt, double standards and the role of Switzerland in the war.
The Execution of the Traitor to the Homeland Ernst S.
Grüningers Fall
Richard Dindo
The Grüninger case from Switzerland. This is a documentary about a police officer who showed civil courage back in the forties when he led many refugees fleeing German Nazi terror immigrate to Switzerland, although he was advised not to do so. Grüninger later was sued by the state of Switzerland, lost his job and died in the early seventies. The film constructs a just lawsuit with eye-witnesses and thus fully legitimates what Grüninger did.
Grüningers Fall
Who was Kafka
Richard Dindo
Filmmaker Richard Dindo's unique documentary uses historical reenactments and speculative "interviews" of historical figures to paint a fascinating portrait of one of the most influential writers of modern literature, renowned author Franz Kafka. Best known for his novel The Metamorphosis, Kafka was famously secretive and eccentric, and the details of his private life have become just as captivating to his fans as his work.
Who was Kafka
Genet à Chatila
Richard Dindo
Mounia Raoui, Leila Shahid
A documentary about the French writer Jean Genet and his relations with the Palestinian revolution. One day after the September 1982 massacre at the refugee camp of Shatila in Beirut, Genet visits the camp. Suffering from throat cancer and having written nothing in years, Genet begins to write on the threshold of his death about this disturbing new experience. It leads to his last book, entitled “Un captif amoureux” in which Genet reflects on the Palestinian revolution, its defeat, and the loss of one’s homeland. In this film a young French woman of Algerian origin who is reading the book returns to the landscapes of the Palestinian resistance and the refugee camps full of exiles, in search of Genet.
Genet à Chatila
Homo Faber (Trois femmes)
Richard Dindo
Daphné Baiwir, Amanda Barron
A man turning 50 (Walter Faber) narrates his liaisons with three women: Hanna, who was pregnant and left him many years ago in Zurich; Ivy, who broke up with him recently in New York; Sabeth who is 20 and whom he just met on a boat to Europe. Sabeth and the narrator travel to France, Italy and Greece. But who is Sabeth? What does she feel towards the narrator? What does he feel towards her? The entire movie is shot in subjective view (we only see what the narrator sees); there are no dialogues, just his post-synchronised voice.
Homo Faber (Trois femmes)
Le voyage de Bashô
Richard Dindo
Hiroaki Kawamoto, Higuchi Seitaro
A fictionalised documentary about the great Japanese poet Bashô (1644–1694), the spiritual father of haiku poetry. A monk, portraying the poet, journeys through Japan, following Bashô's journal and writing many of his haikus. A ruminant, poetic, Zen Buddhist observation of nature – a return to the lost paradise of unspoilt nature.
The Voyage of Bashô
