Alain Tanner
Beginning in the late 1960s, Geneva born Swiss director Alain Tanner created a singular body of work that echoes the visual style of the French New Wave while thematically reflecting the era’s spirit of nonconformity. The films include Charles mort ou vif (1968), The Salamander (1971) and Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 (1976), masterpieces scripted with English critic John Berger (Ways of Seeing) that explore how we negotiate capitalist society - often in ways that resonate powerfully in today’s climate. If you haven’t had the pleasure, here’s your chance to discover one of the most respected leftist European filmmakers of the late 20th century.
Filmography
1957 Picadilly la nuit
1961 Ramuz, passage d'un poète
1962 L'école (short film)
1964 Les apprentis
1966 Une ville à Chandigarh
1968 Docteur B., médecin de campagne / Charles, mort ou vif
1971 La salamandre
1973 Le retour d'Afrique
1974 Le milieu du monde
1976 Jonas, qui aura vingt-cinq ans en l'an 2000
1977 Temps mort
1978 Messidor
1981 Light Years Away
1983 Dans la ville blanche
1985 No Man's Land
1986 Une flamme dans mon cœur
1987 La vallée fantôme
1989 La femme de Rose Hill
1991 L'homme qui a perdu son ombre
1992 Le journal de Lady M. (all fiction)
1994 Les hommes du port (documentary)
1995 Fourbi
1997 Requiem
1999 Jonas et Lila, à demain
2002 Fleurs de sang (co-director)
2004 Paul s'en va (all fiction)
Les hommes du port (1994)
After 40 years Alain Tanner again travels to the port of Genoa, where he worked for a shipping company as a 22-year-old. On the back of his own memories he depicts the rough world of the dockworkers, another of those trades that has undergone fundamental changes as a result of recessions, modernisation and liberalisation. «The visual impression of the harbour and the city has changed very little, but what goes on there nowadays is completely different. The city is still as beautiful and alien and somewhat sad as before. But the port is dying, like so many other major ports. More
Une ville à Chandigarh - Le Corbusier (1965)
When, in 1947, a portion of Punjab province was assigned to the newly created Pakistani State, Albert Mayer began planning a new capital for the portion which remained in the possession of India. Le Corbusier had been responsible since the 1950s for general planning and, more particularly, for large-scale buildings typical of the governmental sector. A year after the death of Le Corbusier, Alain Tanner began shooting his film in a city still partially under construction, or even, in certain places, at the planning stage. More
