At the International Festival for Young Film Lovers, the ECFA Jury awarded the Swiss documentary THE GIRL DOWN LOCH ÄNZI by director Alice Schmid. That same film received an ECFA Doc Award at the Filem’on Festival in Brussels, for the first time participating with an ECFA Doc Jury.
Summer holidays in the Swiss mountains, on her family’s solitary farm, 12-year-old Laura is awaiting Thom’s visit, who is coming from the city to help out in the stables. At last she has somebody to talk to about Loch Änzi, a legendary gorge in the mountains that is supposedly haunted. The film captures the voices of the villagers in tableau vivant images and combines them with entries in Laura’s diary, thus carefully revealing her inner life.
As the film beautifully blends documentary and fiction, THE GIRL DOWN LOCH ÄNZI could be nominated for both ECFA award categories.
The Lucas ECFA Jury were Rok Govednik (Eye on Film, Ljubljana), Patrycja Rojek (AleKino, Poznan) and Christian Exner (KJF, Germany).
The Filem’on ECFA Doc Jury were Vincent Adatte (La Lanterne Magique, Switzerland), Janet van den Brand (documentary maker, Belgium) and Merel Gilsing (EYE Film Museum, The Netherlands).