Nemesis

Thomas Imbach, CH 2020, 132 min, OmeU 

A huge historic freight yard in the middle of the city of Zurich is to give way and a new, ultra-modern prison and police center is to be built. Over a period of seven years, the filmmaker documented the drastic changes from his window in irritatingly beguiling 35mm film recordings: demolition, temporary uses, founding celebrations, official and clandestine uses and finally up to the completion of the building’s shell. The flow of images is sometimes decelerated, sometimes condensed, and the sounds are reconstructed in an exaggerated manner. Gradually, the voiceover’s perspective changes from solely that of the filmmaker’s, and more people join in. Their names are Mourad, Abdoul, Aron, Saleh, Ibrahim, Benji, Abed, Hamza or Bibasta and they report of torture and imprisonment in their home countries. About exploitation and violence on the run. And of experiences in prison as a “deportation prisoner” in Switzerland. “I would rather live in hell than in this messed-up country,” says Saleh. You can also see trendy people playing badminton in the sands of the wasteland. Anyone who has ever had a sudden stomach ache in Switzerland and did not understand why, will find answers in this film. (vk)

Followed by: Live video conversation with Thomas Imbach (German)

Graduation film