«Lilting» was / is the favourite movie of the Eastern Swiss!

The 19th Pink Apple will take place in Zurich from 27th April–5th May and in Frauenfeld from 6th–8th May 2016.

Laudatio of the Jury

Our Special Mention goes to one of very few films with a lesbian theme from Senegal. With sensual and impressive photography, the film tells the story of a tender approach of two women in a surrounding dominated by men. A brave film from a West African country where homosexuality is unlikely to be perceived in society. Our Special Mention is for «L’autre femme» («The Other Woman») by Marie Ka.

The Pink Apple Short Film Award 2015 goes to a film which blurs the boundaries of documentary and fiction. The film is a statement for the diversity of queer identities. It challenges us to reflect our attitudes and expectations. Despite the protagonist's reality, the visibility of queer identities should be free of fear and stigma. With awarding «Black Is Blue» by Cheryl Dunye we would like to take a step further in this direction.

Jury Pink Apple Short Film Award 2015 
Katja Briesemeister, International Queer Film Festival Hamburg, Andreas Lehner, programme manager at the Swiss AIDS Federation, Bettina Pfluger, Lesbian Film Days in Freiburg, Joachim Post, International Queer Film Festival Hamburg

>> Jury
>> Short Film Competition
>> Awardees 

This year’s Pink Apple programme will be online from April 9th! Advance ticket sales will start on April 21st.

More events in Zurich: In addition to the screenings in the Arthouse Movie we will be showing films in the newly renovated Cinema Stüssihof in the Niederdorf. In the Salle Pigalle, an event venue in the same building, our daily Pink Talks and other events will take place.

Pink Apple's complete programme for Zurich and Frauenfeld will be online at the end of April.

Pink Apple Award goes to Lionel Baier

This year Pink Apple will grant the «Pink Apple Award» for the first time in history. A cash prize of 3000 Swiss Francs, the award is given to a film maker for his or her complete oeuvre. This year’s prize was won by Lionel Baier from the French speaking region of Switzerland. Born in Lausanne in 1975, the film director shot the documentary  «La parade» about the first Gay Pride in Sion 15 years ago. In 2004 his film «Garçon stupide» came to the cinemas. Since 2002, Baier has been head of the film department at ECAL in Lausanne.

Sangailé

Swiss Premiere

Alanté Kavaité, Lithuania/ France, Netherlands, 88 mins, Lithuanian/E/d

Seventeen-year-old Sangailé is fascinated by the loopings and pirouettes of aerial acrobatics. She is spending her holidays in her parentssummer house, and visits air shows nearby. There she meets Auste and is drawn to her unselfconscious nature. In weightless images, "Sangailé“ portrays the emotional worlds of the two very different girls. With empathy and sensual intensity director Alanté Kavaité tells a story of closeness and devotion, of emotional hurt and burgeoning self-confidence. "Sangailé“ is the Lithuanian director’s second work. She also wrote the script.

At Pink Apple’s opening in Zurich director Alanté Kavaité and main actress Julija Steponaityté will be present.

Watch the new trailer (and all the old ones) on Youtube. A cheeky 25-second clip by Piet Baumgartner about Pink Apple’s coming of age.

Director and cut: Piet Baumgartner
Camera and color correction: Stefan Dux
Production design: Annina Geeser, Andrea Schmidlin
Composition:Pierre Funck
Mixture: Jacques Kieffer
Saxophone: Jonas Labhart

«What's between us»

This is the story of an intense, inescapable confrontation between two spouses, as hidden secrets progressively come to light. In simple, but emotionally dense scenes, the film follows the everyday life of a family, which – initially almost unnoticed – gradually comes apart at the seams as Alice and Frank slide into a deep crisis after 18 years of marriage. Over the period of a year, the film shows the characters with their wishes and limitations. Their helplessness when faced with a truth that throws their previous life into turmoil: Frank feels more and more attracted to a man.

(Source: http://unterderhaut.ch)

«Love Is Strange» by Ira Sachs

After nearly four decades together, Ben (John Lithgow) and George (Alfred Molina) finally tie the knot in an idyllic wedding ceremony in lower Manhattan. But when George loses his job soon after, the couple must sell their apartment and – victims of the relentless New York City real estate market – temporarily live apart until they can find an affordable new home. While George moves in with two cops (Cheyenne Jackson and Manny Perez) who live down stairs, Ben lands in Brooklyn with his nephew (Darren Burrows), his wife (Marisa Tomei), and their temperamental teenage son (Charlie Tahan), with whom Ben shares a bunk bed. While struggling with the pain of separation, Ben and George are further challenged by the intergenerational tensions and capricious family dynamics of their new living arrangements.

Directed by Ira Sachs (KEEP THE LIGHTS ON, FORTY SHADES OF BLUE), LOVE IS STRANGE blends the romance of New York City's streets and skyline with a delicate Chopin piano score to poignantly capture both the lightness and sorrows of this modern-day love story.

(Source: http://sonyclassics.com/loveisstrange/)

«Electroboy» by Marcel Gisler

The documentary "electroboy" tells the breathtaking life story of a young man who leaves his claustrophobic Swiss surroundings for the wide world in search of fame and appreciation. In a series of success stories he reinvents himself time and again in the shortest periods possible, changing settings and careers like other people change their shirts.

Yet Florian Burkhardt’s life on the fast track turns into an escape from his own biography, which finally catches up with him full force when a fateful event from the past throws its long shadow on him, and he is forced to ask himself the question: Who am I and why?

(Source: http://www.electroboy.de/film-en/)

Pink Apple vouchers are a good surprise present for all occasions. Vouchers worth CHF 20.- can be purchased at any Arthouse Movie box office and at the e-shop, and can be redeemed at the Pink Apple Festival in Zurich. All Arthouse box offices accept the vouchers, and together with the Cinema Card they can also be used when buying tickets online. The vouchers can also be used at Arthouse cinemas for regular cinema screenings outside the festival.