Renato Berta

Les avatars de la mort d’Empédocle

Jean-Paul Toraille

Jean-Marie Straub, Vladimir Baratta

In the summer of 1986, Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub were working in the park of an old Sicilian mansion and in a clearing at the foot of Mount Etna shooting Der Tod des Empedokles. Assistant cameraman Jean-Paul Toraille toyed around, so to speak, with his first video camera, filming the daily work on the set. Now, 24 years later, he was joined by Jean-Marie Straub in editing the material into a film. Anyone who expected the shooting of Les Avatars de la mort d’Empédocle to be an austere affair, an exercise entirely devoid of humour or a Straubian tour de force is proven wrong: so much lightness, joy, concentration, spells of waiting for the sun to come out – and even proper slapstick in between – is hard to find.

Le film du cinéma suisse

Jean-François Amiguet, Renato Berta

Cannes Festival 1991

Marcello Mastroianni - Mi ricordo, sì, io mi ricordo

Anna Maria Tatò

Marcello Mastroianni, Renato Berta

In 1996, Marcello Mastroianni talks about life as an actor. It's an anecdotal and philosophical memoir, moving from topic to topic, fully conscious of a man "of a certain age" looking back. He tells stories about Fellini and De Sica's direction, of using irony in performances, of constantly working (an actor tries to find himself in characters). He's diffident about prizes, celebrates Rome and Paris, salutes Naples and its people. He answers the question, why make bad films; recalls his father and grandfather, carpenters, his mother, deaf in her old age, and his brother, a film editor; he's modest about his looks. In repose, time's swift passage holds Mastroianni inward gaze.

Daniel Schmid - Le chat qui pense

Pascal Hofmann, Benny Jaberg

Daniel Schmid, Ingrid Caven

When director Daniel Schmid grew up, his parents ran a hotel in the Alps, and this singular setting was to influence his film. Rather by coincidence he came to Berlin in the early 1960s and became part of the new German wave. Schmid worked with, among others, Wenders and Fassbinder, for example as an actor in Wender’s The American Friend. He met Ingrid Caven, who was to play a diva in several of his films. This is a documentation of a part of modern European film history and a good analysis of artistry and how it corresponds to the individual behind the camera. A wealth of archival footage brings us close to many directors and actors in Schmid’s circle. If you’ve never seen a Daniel Schmid film, you are sure to want to after watching this portrait of his life.

In Memoriam Daniel Schmid Werner Schroeter

Gérard Courant

Renato Berta, This Brunner

Revoir Hiroshima...

Florence Dauman

Davide Pozzi, Renato Berta

Davide Pozzi, who oversaw the delicate process of scanning the original camera negative, discusses the restoration of Alain Resnais' 1959 film HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR with cinematographer Renato Berta, a special consultant on the project.