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Visions du Réel International Film Festival Nyon 4–13.4.2025

Filou

Samir Samir
Switzerland | 1988 | 90 min
Language : Swiss German
Subtitles : English, French

The charming Massimo, who prefers to be known as Max, keeps himself afloat through petty criminality. With his anarchical, surrealistic leanings, Max embodies the spirit of the Zurich youth movement of 1980. Samir’s documentary films treat daily life caught in the tension between cultural identity and individuality, a direction already clearly evident in this poetic, wonderfully photographed feature film.
The charming ‘Secondo’ Massimo, who prefers to be known as Max, keeps himself afloat through petty criminality, abetted by his roommate Lizzy, who earns her money through prostitution. But instead of carrying out a commission, Max spends his time constructing an airship in a workshop – until he becomes involved in a wild spy story.

With his anarchical, surrealistic leanings, Max embodies the spirit of the Zurich youth movement of 1980. Yet Filou also pays homage to Kurt Früh’s film Bäckerei Zürrer, which tells the love story of the son of a baker and the daughter of an Italian chestnut-seller in Zurich’s Langstrasse during the 1950s – except that today the vagrants and petty criminals watch themselves on television and the Italians hang pennants from their rear view mirrors.

Samir’s documentary films treat daily life caught in the tension between cultural identity and individuality, a direction already clearly evident in this poetic, entertaining feature film.

Jenny Billeter (Translation BMP Translations)

Atelier Samir

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