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Chicago – The 20th Century crisis that was World War II resulted in a bloodbath for virtually all of European and Allied countries … except in “neutral” Switzerland. Veteran writer and director Laurent Négre, a Swiss native, pokes the holes of truth into that overinflated neutrality in the imported feature film “A Forgotten Man.”

Rating: 4.0/5.0

Set in 1945 at the final days of World War II, the story involves Heinrich Zwygart (Michael Neuenschwander) … the Swiss Ambassador to Germany … returning home to Geneva with wartime Ptsd and a cache of secrets about the relationship of “neutral” Switzerland to the just-defeated Nazi regime. Thinking he would have a cakewalk in his homecoming, especially with the dirt he has on the Swiss leadership, he is greeted with indifference from his government, wife Clara (Manuela Biedermann), daughter Helene (Cléa Eden) and Helene’s boyfriend Nicolas (Yann Philipona), who pursues the truth for the “school paper.” The past...

"He has nothing to hide." "We'll see." Sovereign Film has revealed a new official US trailer for a Swiss WWII film titled A Forgotten Man, a very tense B&w thriller. This first premiered back in 2022 at the Zurich Film Festival, and it already opened in most of Europe last year, including in the UK in the fall. It will finally be opening in US theaters this April if anyone is interested. In spring of 1945, Heinrich Zwygart, the Swiss ambassador to Germany flees bombed-out Berlin after eight years of service in the capital of the Reich. This is the end of a terrible mandate, during which he had to make fatal compromises to preserve the neutrality and security of his country. Soon he gets caught up in past decisions. He went through the war, but will he survive the peace? Swiss actor Michael Neueschwander stars as Heinrich Zwygart, with a cast including Manuela Biedermann,...

The thriller follows Germany’s Swiss ambassador post World War II.

UK-based distribution company Sovereign has acquired Laurent Nègre’s Swiss thriller A Forgotten Man ahead of its world premiere at Zurich Film Festival.

The film is slated for a UK and Ireland release in early 2023.

Set after the collapse of Nazi Germany in 1945, A Forgotten Man follows Germany’s Swiss ambassador arriving back home as he grapples with his own political ambitions and the past decisions he made in the name of neutrality.

The cast includes Michael Neuenschwander, Manuela Biedermann, Clea Eden, and Yann Philipona.

Sovereign also financed and...

The Zurich Film Festival has selected some of the year’s most anticipated auteur films and high-brow Hollywood movies in its Gala Premieres section. Among other films, the fest screens the European premieres of “The Woman King,” with Viola Davis, and “Bros” by Nicholas Stoller. It also plays “The Son” by Florian Zeller.

“Of the 145 films in this year’s festival program, we are able to show more than a quarter of them as world or European premieres – more than ever before in the festival’s history,” Christian Jungen, artistic director, says.

“We are particularly proud to be holding the European premieres of Gina Prince-Bythewood’s historical epic ‘The Woman King,’ in which Academy Award-winner Viola Davis leads an international Black cast, as well as the gay romantic comedy ‘Bros’ by Nicholas Stoller, who cast all LGBTQ+ actors for the film. These two movies are a testament to the diverse talent working in Hollywood cinema,...

German sales company Pluto Film has taken world sales outside Switzerland on Swiss director Caterina Mona’s timely immigration-themed drama “Semret” ahead of its world premiere in the Locarno Film Festival’s Piazza Grande section.

The titular character of the film, of which Variety is launching the trailer (watch above), is an Eritrean single mother living in Zurich who works in a hospital while studying to be a midwife. Semret becomes pressured by her teenage daughter, named Joe, to learn more about her origins, which is a taboo subject. But in order not to lose all that she loves, she is forced to confront her wartime past and the sheltered life she has built for herself in Switzerland.

“Semret is first and foremost a film about a mother and a daughter,” the director said in her production notes. “The daughter’s emancipation causes changes in the mother,” she added, noting...