08/11/2021 - Swiss director Samuel Perriard's new film about a couple whose summer holiday ends in crisis is set in Italy and has been shot in the region of Apulia

l-r: Julia Jentsch, Finn Sehy and Florian Lukas in Im Fallen (© Catpics AG/Helios)

The new film by Swiss director Samuel Perriard, 8 Days in August [+see also:
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interview: Samuel Perriard
film profile] (working title Im Fallen), is a Swiss-Italian co-production staged by Catpics AG (based in Zurich) and Helios Sustainable Films (Bolzano). The shoot took place for six weeks in the southern Italian town of Vieste, in the region of Apulia. In this idyllic but also rugged setting on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, the film tells the story of a couple on their summer holiday. One day, their son Finn passes out on the beach. Even though he recovers quickly, the incident plunges the pair into a crisis.

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As for the cast of the film, it stars two well-established German actors, Julia Jentsch and Florian Lukas, in the main roles. Jentsch will step into the shoes of Helena. The German actress, originally from Berlin, now lives in Zurich and can look back on an impressive career in film as well as in theatre. She has been very busy in recent years, working on international productions such as Monte Verità [+see also:
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interview: Stefan Jäger
film profile] by another Swiss director, Stefan Jäger, and I'm (Endless Like the Space) [+see also:
trailer
interview: Anne-Riitta Ciccone
film profile] by Italian helmer Anne Riitta Ciccone. Her partner in the feature, playing the role of Adam, is Lukas, who is also from Berlin and made a name for himself in several German productions, such as Madison [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Kim Strobl, The Silent Revolution [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] by Lars Kraume and the series Weissensee, which is based in the GDR.

Among the other members of the cast are two Swiss actors, Sarah Hostettler (Of Fish and Men [+see also:
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film profile], Die fruchtbaren Jahre sind vorbei [+see also:
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film profile]). On the Italian side, thesps Fortunato Cerlino (A Bunch of Bastards [+see also:
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interview: Kenneth Mercken
film profile]) and Giandomenico Cupaiuolo, both active in features and series, are also among the cast.

While Samuel Perriard is in charge of directing the feature, he was backed up by Markus Ziegler when writing the script. 8 Days in August is his second feature-length film after his debut, Schwarzer Panther. Both production companies, Catpics AG and Helios Sustainable Films, have an impressive portfolio of independent movies. Catpics AG was founded in Zurich in 1984 and was recently taken over by a new generation of producers. Among its biggest productions of the last few years are Spagat [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christian Johannes Koch
film profile] by Christian Johannes Koch and Goliath [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Dominik Locher
film profile] by Dominik Locher. Helios Sustainable Films has features such as Perseverance by Miha Knific and Mountain Miracle – An Unexpected Friendship [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Tobias Wiemann under its belt.

The film is being co-produced by SRF Swiss Radio and Television, and funded by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, the Zurich Filmfoundation, the Italian Tax Credit, the IDM-Südtirol-Alto Adige Film Fund, the MIC Ministero della Cultura, the AFC (Apulia Film Commission), Suissimage and Focal. The release of the movie is planned for 2022, and it will be distributed in Switzerland by Cineworx.