Stefan Haupt, director
Statement
Biographies, in whatever form, fascinate me. They confront me with my own story. Where does a particular person come from, where is he or she now, where is he or she going? Could their life have taken a different course? Do we create our own biography or does it take its own, pre-set course? These are questions about life and its meaning.
Just like human beings, buildings and artistic creations have their biography and their genesis: they have an origin, “parents”, a moment of creation and birth and then a life until they are accomplished - or destroyed - with a possible continuation in a modified form. These biographies are fascinating and moving too.
The focus of this film is the biography of the Sagada Família, the biography of a religious building which seems almost anachronistic in our times. A biography unfinished as yet, but which has already filled volumes.
I would like to tell this biography “from the core and from within”, taking as a starting point its roots, the everyday life of workers, sculptors and architects, as well as exploring topical issues and problems of the present. Slowly the outer history will build around it, encompassing the first sketches and historical building stages, today's development stage, as well as the vision of the completed Sagrada Família.
Biografie
1961 born in Zurich
1978 – 79 A-levels, piano, oboe and singing lessons, choir master
1985 – 88 Theatre Academy Zurich (graduated as a theatre pedagogue)
since 1989 Freelance filmmaker and director
Foundation of Fontana Film (Fontana Film GmbH since 2004)
2008 – 10 President of the Swiss Filmmakers Association (ARF/FDS)
Married, lives in Zurich with his family
Filmography
2012 SAGRADA – EL MISTERI DE LA CREACIÓ, documentary, 90 min., screenplay, director and producer
2010 HOW ABOUT LOVE, feature, Swiss German dialect, English, Thai, Karen;
110 min., screenplay, director and co-producer
Nominated for the 2011 Swiss Film Award “Best Supporting Actor”
Hofer Filmtage, 2010, Int. Indian Film Festival, 2010, Max Ophüls Award Saarbrücken Film Festival, 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, documentary, 105 min., screenplay, director and producer
Nominated for the 2007 Swiss Film Award “Best Documentary”, 3rd prize “Succès Zürich” Awards of the public at the 9th Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival and at the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival 2007; “Contact” International documentary film festival Kiev, April 2007; DOKFEST Munich, May 2007, IFFI Festival Innsbruck, Locarno, Sarajevo, Bogotà, IFFK Kerala 2007
2004 DOWNTOWN SWITZERLAND, documentary, 94 min., concept, co-author, co-director and co-producer with Christian Davi, Kaspar Kasics, Fredi M. Murer
Molodist International Film Festival Kiev, 2005; Max Ophüls Film Award at the Saarbrücken Film Festival, 2007
2003 MORITZ, TV feature, 87 min., co-author, director, co-producer
2002 ELISABETH KÜBLER-ROSS – FACING DEATH, documentary, 98 min., screenplay, director and producer
Nominated for the 2004 Swiss Film Award “Best Documentary”; FDI quality award; Molodist International Film Festival Kiev, 2003; Dokfilmfest Munich, Doc Aviv; MAX Film Festival Hong Kong, 2004, and others
2001 UTOPIA BLUES, Sfeature film, Swiss German dialect, 97 min
Screenplay, director, co-producer, Swiss Film Award in 2002 (“Best Film”, “Best Actor”), FDI study grant, Zurich Film Award, Max Ophüls Award 2002 (“Best screenplay”), Main award at Molodist International Film Festival Kiev, 2002, Pusan and other locations
2000 INCRESCHANTÜM (Homesickness), documentary, 68 min. Raeto-Romance, screenplay, director and producer
1998 I'M JUST A SIMPLE PERSON, documentary, 49 min., Screenplay, director, producer, FDI study grant
Current film projects
2013 Der Kreis (The Circle), cinema feature, 100 min., screenplay and director: Stefan Haupt,
Contrast Film Zürich GmbH, distribution Switzerland: Ascot-Elite, Zurich (funding)
2014 Finsteres Glück (Dark Bliss), cinema feature, 90 min., based on Lukas Hartmann's novel with the same title, screenplay and director: Stefan Haupt, Triluna Film and Fontana Film (screenplay in development)