15/02/2014 - The film's plot takes place at the heart of the post-war homosexual movement in Zurich

The Swiss film The Circle [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stefan Haupt
film profile] by Stefan Haupt has received the Teddy Award in the “Best Documentary/Essay Film” category, which was given out during the 64th Berlinale. An independent international jury selected the Swiss contribution from among nine nominated films. The Teddy Award is the most prestigious LGBT film prize in the world.

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Haupt’s docudrama was screened in a world premiere in the Panorama section of the Berlinale. The action takes place at the heart of the post-war homosexual movement in Zurich. It recounts the true love story between Röbi Rapp (Sven Schelker) and Ernst Ostertag (Matthias Hungerbühler), who get to know each other through the homosexual magazine “Der Kreis”. The film revisits the story of the oldest homosexual network in Europe and delivers a remarkable portrait of the dramatic changes that occurred in Zurich – a liberal city during the post-war years, which later supported a more repressive type of society in the 1970s. Anatole Taubmann and Marianne Sägebrecht play two other roles in the film.

The Circle will be released in Swiss and German theatres in the autumn. At the Berlinale Film Market, the distribution rights were sold to the United States and Canada as well as Poland; other countries such as France, the United Kingdom and Italy also expressed an interest.

(Translated from French)