The Roots of Madness – Films

Edgar Hagen
Schweiz | 2026 | 107 min
Weltpremiere
Sprachen : Englisch, Deutsch, Paschtu, Dari, Arabisch, Kurdisch, Französisch
Untertitel : Englisch, Französisch

40 Jahre lang bereiste Ulrich Tilgner als Reporter für das deutsche Fernsehen den Nahen Osten. Als melancholischer Zeuge kehrt er nun in diese Region zurück, die mit aktivem Zutun der Westmächte zerstört wurde. Gemeinsam mit seinen damaligen Bekannten und Freunden will er das Ausmass eines Desasters abschätzen, das uns Edgar Hagens Film ins vom beschleunigten geopolitischen Tagesgeschehen übersättigte Gedächtnis zurückruft.

In a prologue ironically titled “The Prehistory of the Present Times”, Edgar Hagen presents, both literally and figuratively, what led him to The Roots of Madness. The tense editing sets the tone: in 2015, millions of refugees, mostly from the Middle East, flowed into Europe, unwittingly fuelling the rise of xenophobic extremism. Au grand dam d’Ulrich Tilgner. A renowned German television reporter, he has covered nearly every conflict that has devastated this region, with the active backing of Western powers, in retaliation for the September 11 attacks. The Swiss filmmaker accompanies “Uli” on a farewell journey to meet his former contacts and friends on site, combining archives and often painful testimonies to create an unflinching yet sensitive indictment that occupies the space between outrage and melancholy. The film helpfully reintroduces into our memories – saturated by the current acceleration of (the same) imperial logics – the poisoned legacy of 20 years of armed interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, carried out in our name, for the “liberation of peoples” and “democracy”.

Emmanuel Chicon

The Roots of Madness, 2026
Who Are We?, 2019
Journey to the Safest Place on Earth, 2013
Someone Beside You, 2007
Time of the Titans, 2001
Dorothea Buck – Vom Wahn zum Sinn, 1998
Markus Jura Suisse – The Prodigal Son, 1996
Gewitter im Gehirn, 1994
Faxenmacher, 1993
Kleine Lieben, 1991