Script: Anna Thommen, DoP: Gabriela Betschart, Editor: Andreas Arnheiter, Anna Thommen, Production: Fama Film, Producers: Rolf Schmid, Stefan Eichenberger, with: Ehsanullah Habibi, Nazlije Aliji, Christian Zingg, Ismail Aliji, Hamidullah Hashimi, Andreas Schultheiss
Afghanistan, Cameroon, Serbia – the new students in the integration class Basel have a long journey behind them. Mr. Zingg, the teacher, has only one goal in sight: to help the young people who have been traumatized by so many hard strokes of fate to find a job in the new society. But as the end of their schooling approaches, these young migrants have to ask themselves: is there a place at all for me in this country?
Biography: Anna Thommen, born in Basel/Switzerland in 1980, initially worked as a teacher. In 2005, she decided to study film at the University for Design and Art in Lucerne/Switzerland. With her graduation film, SECOND ME, she won numerous awards at international film festivals. Her first feature-length documentary, EIN STÜCK WAHNSINN, was nominated for the Basler Filmpreis 2013. NEULAND is her graduation film at the Zurich University of Arts, where she made her master degree in 2013.
Filmography: 2008 SECOND ME (short film), 2012 EIN STÜCK WAHNSINN (co-director: Gabriela Betschart), 2013 NEULAND
Awards: Award for best German-language documentary (Zurich Film Festival, Switzerland 2013), First Steps Award for best documentary (Berlin/Germany 2013), Audience Award (Solothurner Filmtage, Switzerland 2014)
