Festival opening without Alain Berset

58th Solothurn Film Days

Federal Councilor Berset opens the film festival with a greeting

Although Federal Councilor Alain Berset had to cancel his visit at short notice, he opened the 58th Solothurn Film Festival with a personal greeting. Via video message he expressed his regret at having to interrupt the “tradition so dear to him”.

Because the snow conditions on Wednesday evening made it impossible to travel from the WEF to Solothurn, Carine Bachmann, Director of the Federal Office of Culture (FOC), gave the opening speech in place of the Minister of Culture. She praised Switzerland, which can rightly be proud of its filmmaking, and emphasized the increasing presence of domestic productions at international festivals.

The Swiss retrospective will open with «This Kind of Hope» by the Swiss-Polish director Pawel Siczek. The documentary film, shown in a world premiere, is a look at the past and present of Belarus. The focus is on Andrei Sannikov, who played a key role as a diplomat in Belarus’ nuclear disarmament in the 1990s and later ran for president.