Producer and director behind 180º plan class reunion story

The film, entitled Sleeping Dogs, is “about a class reunion. A group of friends meet again 20 years after they did something against a teacher, and it’s them dealing with their bad conscience when they see the teacher again,” Inan explained to Screen.

Walser noted that the project, which hasn’t been financed yet, will be shot in Zurich and takes place over the course of one night.

Walser said they expected 180º to be a local success when it is released next week by Praesens. She praised Swiss audiences for “liking challenging films that aren’t just entertainment,” she said. “People like to see topics which have some Swiss content.”

The plot is about a violent gunman on the run, and other people whose lives are brought together by fate. “Shootings like these keep happening, so the movie has something very real about it,” Inan noted.

The production shot in Zurich for 25 days, with backing for the 1.8m CHF budget from BAK, Swiss Television SF and distributor Praesens, which will next week release the film in Switzerland on 15 prints.

C-Films previously produced local hit Grounding. “With something like that, it was a swiss story that we knew would stay swiss. 180 is a really universal movie.” Inan noted that the characters aren’t purely Swiss, but show other nationalities as well, “showing a little bit different side of Zurich.”

The film doesn’t yet have an international sales agent on board. “We wanted to first start in Switzerland and then take care of the other territories,” Walser said. “We closed financing without needing a minimum guarantee [from an international sales agnet]. So that was quite a luxurious situation,” Walser added.

The pair are also reteaming on a TV film, for German and Swiss TV, based on the Tatort police detective series. Hans Christian Schmid (Reqiuem) is also on board for that project.

C-Films, which also has operations in Hamburg for German co-productions, has a very full slate of upcoming projects split among its three producers. They include a series of Alain Gsponer films (the first one, Der Letzte Weynfeldt, was just out on TV). The company is also producing Der Verdingbub by Markus Imboden, which is shooting now. That film is based on true stories of Swiss orphans in the 1950s who were sold as labourers to farmers. “Its’ a very dark topic and a touching movie,” Walser said.

Also in the works is Il diavolo sulle colline by Fulvio Bernasconi, an Italy-set project about three young guys finding their dark side.

And one of the company’s biggest projects is Night Train to Lisbon, which will shoot in March or May in Lisbon and Bern. That film, made with Studio Hamburg and a co-producer in Lisbon, will have a budget of about Euros 8m. Geoffrey Rush is now attached to star.