ZHdK successes in Solothurn
Multiple awards and nominations for ZHdK alumni and students: At the Solothurn Film Festival, projects from the fields of Film and Fine Arts were recognised and nominated for the Swiss Film Award.
From 21 to 28 January 2026, the Solothurn Film Festival – the most important film festival in German-speaking Switzerland – took place. At the 61st edition of the festival, ZHdK alumni and students were once again represented with their projects.
Film alumna wins the “Perspektiven Lab”
The “Perspektiven Lab”, which supports emerging filmmakers as they enter professional practice and helps them build networks, was awarded this year, among others, to Fabienne Steiner, alumna of the MA Film Documentary, for her project Transfer. The documentary film uses money transfers to pose the seemingly simple question of what makes a place a home. With an original reversal of perspective on migration, the film connects old and new homelands, different cultural spaces, and explores the human need for belonging. It sensitively reveals emotional as well as economic dependencies – between care and exploitation, closeness and distance.
As part of the “Perspektiven Lab”, film school graduates discuss their film ideas with experts in a closed setting and build targeted professional networks. Two of the eight selected projects receive a development grant of CHF 5,000 each.
“Audience Award” for Fine Arts alumna
The “Audience Award” for Best Short Film was presented to Lara Alina Hofer, alumna of the BA Fine Arts, for her docu-fiction Versuch, einen Baum in Zürich zu fällen. In the film, the protagonist attempts, in a Kafkaesque manner, to get rid of the tree outside her window, which reminds her of her toxic ex-boyfriend. However, the City of Zurich rejects her request, she is mocked online, and the tabloid press reports sensationally. A final plot twist invites reflection on healing, love and the fetishisation of objects shaped by personal emotions.
The “Audience Award”, worth CHF 10,000, is sponsored by Suissimage and SSA.
“Night of Nominations” for the Swiss Film Award
As part of the “Night of Nominations”, several ZHdK productions were nominated for the Swiss Film Award. The Bachelor diploma film 1:10 by Sinan Taner (alumnus, BA Film) is nominated in the category “Best Graduation Film”.
Further nominations include Bagger Drama by Piet Baumgartner (alumnus, MA Film, Directing Fiction) and Late Shift by Petra Volpe (production: Reto Schaerli, Head of Major MA Film, Creative Producing) in the category “Best Feature Film”; I Love You, I Leave You by Moris Freiburghaus (alumnus, BA Film, production including Fabiana Seitz, MA Film, Creative Producing) in the category “Best Documentary Film”; and Air Horse One by Lasse Linder (MA Film, Documentary) in the category “Best Short Film”.
The nominated films will be screened during the “Week of the Nominees”, from 23 to 29 March 2026, at Filmpodium Zurich and Cinéma Bio in Carouge.
