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Inside the jar, the wasp struggles, confused by its inability to pass through the glass. It was lured in by jam and now, too late, it seems to recognise its own helplessness. Elio (Vidal Arzoni) watches it intently. When his mother comes home she tells him not to torture it. There’s only so much she can do to bring him up right, as she’s also working nightshifts in order to put food on the table. Life is tough for immigrants. Still, she’s confident that things are going well for her bright, lively boy, especially now that he has a tutor taking an interest in him. He seems to be on course for a bright future.

All this we learn within the first four minutes of Christine Wiederkehr’s tightly honed, beautifully acted film. It give us a fully realised world with characters whose relationship feels natural and lived-in,...

7 Fois

7 Fois. Seven times. That’s how often, according to research, an abused child has to ask for help before anyone intervenes. How does it happen that people turn away, or fail to pay attention, so often? Christine Wiederkehr’s intense 16 minute film tells the story of one boy, Elio (Vidal Arzoni), who is persuaded to share his secrets with a young woman (Luna Wedler) whom he meets whilst waiting for his tutor – but will she take him seriously?

The film begins when Elio is at home, chasing a wasp around the kitchen, waiting for his mother to return from her night shift. I asked Christine why she chose to start there and to take her time establishing the characters before the main arc of the story gets going.

“I thought the context is quite important, because abuse is always happening in a power relationship,” she says. “And I thought.

Main awards won by films from Uruguay, Romania and Switzerland.

Germán Tejeira’s A Moonless Night (Una Noche Sin Luna) has won the International Feature Film Golden Eye award at the 10th Zurich Film Festival (Sept 25 - Oct 5).

The drama centres on three lonely lives in rural Uruguay.

The International Documentary Film Golden Eye was won by Alexander Nanau’s Romanian film, Toto and His Sisters, about a 10-year-old and his two teenage sisters who learn to survive while waiting for their mother’s release.

Both awards come with a cash prize of more than $30,000 (CHF25,000) and (CHF100,000) for Swiss promotion.

The Golden Eye in the Focus: Switzerland, Germany, Austria section was won Bruno Deville’s Swiss comedy, Boucoule.

The prize include Chf 20’000 ($20,0007) cash prize. Each winner also receives Chf 100’000 ($10,700) for the promotion of their film in Swiss cinemas.

The newly introduced Emerging Swiss Talent Award went to Bruno Deville’s Boucoule (Switzerland), and the Critic’s Choice...