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It has long been a cherished goal to expand this website to include French, Italian, and English. Today, I can complete the first version of this project. From now on, filminfo.ch, in keeping with good Swiss tradition, will be multilingual. You can select the language in the top right corner by clicking on the
abbreviations ‘de’, ‘fre’, ‘en’, or ‘it’.
That this didn’t happen right from the start, please forgive me. The filminfo.ch website is a private project. All the work is done in my spare time (today it was the entire Sunday).
In this post, I would like to briefly explain how the film directory gets from the main database (which is not freely available on the web) to this page. My private film collection has become quite extensive. And it’s not just Swiss films that I collect. The Swiss “faction” (so to speak) doesn’t even make up the majority.
Therefore, the data from the main database must be reduced to include only Swiss entries. This is done by exporting the data for the static list and then creating a copy of the reduced database. Simply put, all entries where the country is not ‘CH’ will be removed. After that, the data is automatically uploaded to filminfo.ch. An export process takes approximately 60 seconds, during which any ongoing sessions in the database are terminated. In such cases, the only way to continue working is to access the system through filminfo.ch.
With fully automated uploading, it is ensured that films from the main directory are transferred to the public directory very quickly. It is also ensured that this process requires no effort on my part. And yes, it can happen that I make mistakes when tagging. In such a case, these errors will also be found in the public directory, simply until they are corrected.
It should also be noted that a privately maintained directory is not 100% perfect. However, I still believe this is better than having no directory at all. Furthermore, there are also questions about the criteria used. What exactly constitutes a Swiss film? In the case of filminfo.ch, as mentioned above, this is the case if the film has the abbreviation ‘CH’ listed under countries. If this is not the case, the films are essentially “removed” during export.
Unfortunately, this also affects many films featuring well-known Swiss figures in the film industry. For example, Bettina Oberli (Die Herbstzeitlosen) currently works mainly in Germany. These films are not included in this directory.
Doing it differently would involve considerable effort. Anatole Taubman, for example, only received his Swiss passport in 2023. Would all of Anatole Taubman’s films now count towards Switzerland, or ‘only’ those made after 2023? It would become even more absurd when considering supporting roles played by a Swiss actor or actress. It would be a very nitpicky undertaking. Perhaps one day my entire directory will be in a separate database (the static list would become hopelessly long), we’ll see.
Furthermore, I would like to mention one exception: films that are exclusively or predominantly set or produced in Switzerland are included in this list. The “Zürich-Krimi” is a notable example. Although it is a German production, as the name suggests, all episodes are set in Zurich, and therefore these productions are included in the list. Additionally, there are some contributions from the International Red Cross in this list, because the institution is based in Geneva.
It should also be mentioned that there can sometimes be two or even more entries for the same title. This is because films can be edited differently, and this can also be the case when films are extensively restored. In fact, I find the non-restored versions just as interesting, as they often flicker, hum, and shimmer (even on a digital device). Restored versions are perfect, sometimes even a little too perfect. Moreover, subtitles are often directly “burned” into a film. This doesn’t result in “beautiful” images, and so it may happen that the film ends up in the archive once with subtitles and once without.
And since we’re already getting into the details, the language is recorded in a rather ‘rudimentary’ way. Primarily, the languages German (de), French (fr), Italian (it) and Spanish (es) are recorded. All other languages are listed under ‘ot’ (other). Any subtitles are indicated by a hyphen next to the language. ‘ot-en’ means that the language is not one of the main languages, but that there are at least English subtitles. Furthermore, no distinction is made as to whether the film is in Swiss German or standard German. Primarily, the dialect versions are recorded. If the standard German version is initially added to the archive, it may be that it is added again later (in the dialect version). In most cases, there is a separate note in the ‘Subtitles’ field.
The length is indicated in minutes in the static list, but in the database, it is in seconds. Consequently, an entry of 5400 corresponds to a runtime of 1.5 hours. The display in seconds may seem a bit unusual in the database at first. However, this makes it very easy to filter movies by length. With 300-600 in the seconds field, all movies between 5 and 10 minutes long would be displayed.
In the text fields, exact searches using quotation marks are possible. Using ‘Die Schweizermacher’ guarantees that only the feature film will be displayed, but then the worthwhile documentary ‘Beromünster – Im Land der Schweizermacher’ and a contribution about the film’s production will be omitted.
Finally, a few more notes. Currently, the information for the categories or genres has not yet been implemented in a language-appropriate manner. Most of the entries are in German (with some entries from French-speaking Switzerland also in French). I am currently exploring the best way to implement this. Again, the film collection or directory is maintained in my spare time. The primary focus is on researching good and interesting films. However, language-specific adaptations would, of course, be desirable. I’m working on it… In this sense, enjoy filminfo.ch, currently the largest film directory for Swiss productions.
P.S: The images in this post are taken from the respective films. They are used here in accordance with the right to quote. Any other use is excluded. Therefore, the images must not be copied from this homepage either.