Trailer of Chute, 2021

Poster by Simon Trüb and Nora Longatti

Directors Statement

Chute draws an alienating sketch of our society, in which words are hard to find and emotions lacking expression. The film is a personal examination of ways of self-expression and Zwischenmenschlichkeit (interpersonal connection).

It is this seeking for in-betweenness, that leads the protagonist to stage the accidents (Chutes). By doing so, she is meeting a very basic human need - to feel in touch, with what surrounds us. In sociology, this phenomenon is described as resonance. The encounters she has are intense, yet momentary. The only figure occurring more than once is her neighbour, with whom a persistent dialogue becomes imaginable. Which leads us to understand, that the protagonist is not actually just longing to be touched, but to feel connected.

Chute is an intimate research on resonance, in a world of passer-by's. And it's a portrait of solitudes; a hommage to the invisible.

In the framework of these settings, the protagonist functions like a prism. Through her, we the intimate needs and desires of strangers, who have stopped in their tracks as they passed by, become imagenable.

In my work as a filmmaker, solitude and resonance are key issues. The settings of my films hover between the absurd and the banal, as I investigate specific aspects of capitalist society within them. How do these systems affect our emotional conditions; our everyday lives?
I am moved by the way the very silent feelings we sometimes have about our existence (such as, for example, loneliness) can find expression within a setting. These prosaic settings (Setzungen) give rise to situations and through the dialogue with my collaborators, movements emerge within them. The roles in Chute are written for and in collaboration with their performers.

It is important for me to keep viewers reflective on their relations to the characters. What drives me in my work is the question of how empathy (between spectator and character) can be established, without tricking you into immersion: without letting you completely forget about yourself. I’d like to keep you active in your chair and observing – not only what is going on in the film, but inside you.

Q&A with the writer-director Nora Longatti

There are different types of accidents (chutes) in cinema, those that are plausible and those that are not; which considerations enabled you to make those that you staged stand out?

In my work, I am less interested in singularity than in the banality of everyday life. There is much absurdity in the "banal" and a lot of poetry in everyday life. That’s why I tried to develop unspectacular situations, in order to make them contrast with the somewhat fantastical moment of the “Chutes”. The characters were written for their performers and possible reactions to the “Chutes” were intensively discussed with them, in preparation for the shooting. I wanted them to be able to express an intimate feeling they are familiar with, in these situations.

The "Chute" situations are thus a kind of "space of possibility" and the protagonist a kind of prism. Through her, we encounter strangers. She provokes insights that make their intimate needs, wishes and desires perceptible to us viewers. Chute is also a reference to the dated role attribution of the “needy, passive female figure” in the history of cinema. There is a doubt: Who is in control of the situation? Is her role a passive one or is it actually an active attempt; a form of communication?

How did you go about choosing the settings – a housing estate, urban spaces, a supermarket, bar, laundry room...?

The film is set in Biel-Bienne and was shot exclusively in natural settings. Biel/Bienne is the town where I was born, grew up and went to school. It’s a working-class town and boasts the greatest cultural diversity in Switzerland.

The choice of the shooting locations was a decision for the unspectacular, the ordinary. I’m fascinated by mundane corners; "non-places" that are imbued with their own peculiar forms of aesthetics. Chute is set in places we all frequent in our everyday lives. And I wanted to collaborate with people I can meet here; in public spaces, in a supermarket or a bar. Most of the Chute scenes are set in public space because I wanted to contrast these intimate, private actions with an "openness". The intimate moments become even more fragile, more vulnerable, as a result.

You chose fixed shots, with the exception of only one panoramic shot: how did it fit into the dramaturgy?

On the one hand, the panning serves to contextualize: the language of this architecture with its oppressive concrete ceiling reflects the condition of the Chute-partner in this scene. The pan emphasizes that the architecture of the location functions as an individual personality. On the other hand, through this one-off movement the medium of film per se becomes noticeable. The viewers are, so to speak, sent back to their seats to make sure they won't forget themselves completely.

My films are intended to stimulate reflection. I’m fascinated by the inner dialogue that the medium can trigger in the viewer. We will only see that if the viewers don’t project themselves completely into the film’s world; if they don’t become dissolved in it; remember themselves.

How did you go about casting?

The performers in Chute are mainly from the Biel/Bern area and from my circle of acquaintances. I casted the extras on location; when they were shopping in the supermarket, in front of their homes or in their local pub. When developing a new scenario/shooting concept, I start the casting process very early on, since I develop the characters and their roles for and with the performers. In cinema, I have the possibility to render visible. This possibility is actually the most important power of filmmaking for me. Diversity in front of and behind the camera is equally essential.

Important therefor is, that the performers do not have to embody the clichés of an otherness assigned to them or make this the subject of their characters. But that they are free to relate to a situation in a personal and individual way. For Chute, I worked out of feminist motivation mainly with FLINT people in cast and crew. However, I don’t regard the intimate needs, vulnerabilities and desire for intimacy that this film addresses as being tied to any particular form of gender expression.

Hardly a single word is uttered, did you know from the outset that there wouldn’t be any dialogue in the film?

The protagonist is on an intimate quest for means of expression. The breakdowns may perhaps be read as a clumsy, but nonetheless honest form of attempts at communication. Thereby I am moved by the question of what a posture, a glance or a movement (or lack of movement) seem to express. At the end of the day we, as viewers of an event, merely make assumptions about the emotional states and life situations that motivate the movements of the characters in it. That’s why in Chute as well, we may only sense what the fundamental motivators of the movements might be. So to conclude, I wouldn't say that this is a silent film. Chute is a quiet film in which a lot is going on. Maybe you will notice in its symptomatic speechlessness that of a society with which you are not unfamiliar?

How would you describe your protagonist’s quest? What is she looking for and what does she provoke in her counterparts?

She leads an intimate quest for resonance, in a world of passers-by. Chute is the portrait of a, to a certain extent, dystopian model of society, in which individualised citizens find themselves in a painful search for an outlet, a form of "ex-pression", for their unanswered needs and desires. It is an examination of an systemic, pathogenic loneliness that deprives one of empathy and, to some extent, also of words. But Chute is as well a plea to the effort of giving expression to your most intimate needs and desires. And an ode to the Invisibles.

CREDITS

Cast

Main Cast Fhunyue Gao, Barbara Kurth, Yevgenia Korlov, Jeff Nsingi Ambassi, Agathe Lecomte, Julian Gyphens, Fhunyue Gao, Barbara Kurth, Yevgenia Korlov, Jeff Nsingi Ambassi

Additional Cast Celani Giordano, Chantal Bidermann, Cynthia Pantie, Gisele Trabato, Jannik Dolder, Jean-Philippe Vaucher, Kurt Girsberger, Lira Erelire Musliu, Marlen Geisiger, Maya Hotarek, Mónica Balanta, Nadja Dewes et Ralph, Nikolett Baki, Safa Gloria

Crew

Screenplay & direction Nora Longatti


Cinematography Carlos Tapia González

Editing Maxence Tasserit, Nora Longatti

Sounddesign Peter Bräker

Production Design Thea Spiri


Costumes Clara Solberger


Make up & SFX Julia Nietlispach

Assistant director Mireille Moros


Script Juliette Menthonnex


Chef electrician Simon Kuhn

Assistant camera Line de Kaenel

Set manager Vicky Ramsay

Covid manager Daniel Grabherr

Catering Cucina Longatti, Gritta Krebs 

Casting Nora Longatti


Colorgrading Carlos Tapia González

Mix Peter Bräker

Music Anuk Schmelcher, Nora Longatti

Graphic Design Simon Trüb

Subtitles Submarines Subtitling&Translation

Producer Yan Decoppet & Gabriela Bussman, GoldenEggProduction

Co-producer ÉCAL Jean-Guillaume Sonnier

Mentoring Laurent Larivière

Punctual consultants Elsa Amiel, Marie Monge, Antoine Russbach, Raphaël Sohier, Monia Chokri, Josée Deshaies

Thanks to Suksaeng Walailak – Jessica & Victoria Maurer – Amos – Yann Gonzalez – Patricia Nydegger – Raphaël Lefèvre – Luana Gonçalves – Elisabeth Jaquemet – Barbara Grimm – Alexandra Prusa – Laurens Dekeyser – Sergo Mikirtumov – Claude Kuhn – Katarina Tereh – Selin Dettwiler – Lionel Baier – Mykyta Kryvosheiev – Maya Hottarek – Roman Luterbacher Vadenoff – Ruth et Heinz Gerber – Jessica und Victoria Maurer vom Café Brésil – Luc Grandemange – Jonathan Humair – Eve Chariatte – Antoine Rubin – Familie Zosso – Ludwig Heilig – Andrea Bauer – Genossenschaft Migros Aare – Alex Zysset – Regula Belgacem – F&L Immobilien-Treuhand AG – Wilfred Rohrbach – Familie Hakimi – ICI Brocki – Sonja Sutter – Twix Brocki Biel – Der Choisystrasse 5 – Nicole Scheunert – Heimverein Rakataiana – Herr Eggli – Schulhaus Mühlefeld – Nouveau Musée de Bienne – Volksschule Nidau – Revolta – Lucas Miracle Giordano – Korlei Rochat – Lou-Thea Papaloizos – Coline Confort – Natasha Degrandi – Kimyan Flückiger – Rodrigo Muñoz – Théodora Menthonnex – Thibault Villard – Aurel Ganz – Nikita Merlini – Fanny Reynaud – Thibault Rodrigues – Mathieu Pluquet – Quentin Sombsthay – Sacha Kouprianoff – Sabine Iwasko – Ugo Simon – Marc Burger – Valentin Decoppet – Jean Perret – Philippe Romi – Submarines Subtitling&Translation – Sylvain Vaucher – Colline, Emmeline et Eva.

Service provider ÉCAL – La Fémis – Visuals Genève

With the support of  Cinéforom and 
Loterie Romande


AWARDS

2021 - Festival du film de Locarno, 2021 (Suisse) *Pardino d'Oro for the best national short film

2021 - Reykjavik International Film Festival, 2021 (Island) *best international short film

2022 - Sapporo Short Fest (Japan) *Best Contemporary Experimental Short

2022 - FuoriFormato (Italy) *Best Film in the international program of "Stories We Dance"

FESTIVAL CIRCUIT (Selection)

– Festival du film de Locarno, 2021

– The Gwanghwamun International Short Film Festival, 2021

– Reykjavik International Film Festival, 2021

– Solothurner Filmtage, 2022

– GwangHwaMun International Film Festival, 2022

– GoShorts Njimegen, 2022

– PÖFF Black Nights, 2021

– El Gouna Film Festival, 2021

– Chicago International Film Festival, 2021

– Vilnius International Short Film Festival, 2022

– Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival (BIEFF), 2021

– Locarno in Milano, 2022

– Queer Lisboa, 2022

– Encounters Film Festival 2022