Alexander J. Seiler, an exponent of the new-wave of Swiss cinema of the 1960s, is partially responsible for the shift in Swiss film from pastoral Alpine mountain scenes and peasant dramas to one of social responsibility and consciousness. Seiler’s background in drama was an advantage – he was not bound by the existing conventions and rules of the trade of filmmaking.

His Siamo Italiani [The Italians 1964] was ‘the thunderbolt that rudely awakened Swiss cinema from the slumbers in which it had been since the end of the War’. Seiler’s cameras descended from the lofty Alpine peaks into the streets of everyday life. Siamo Italiani marked an ideological and stylistic change in Swiss filmmaking, and now cinema was to be seized upon as a critical tool and means of personal expression. Seiler revealed the Swiss as more than a nation that hid behind their banal defensiveness and hypocritical neutralism. Palaver, Palaver, a work made some 25 years later, continued this revelatory process and secures his legacy as a maker of quality documentaries. Born in 1928 in Zurich, Seiler studied and worked as a journalist and completed his Ph.D. on the theatrical work of Jean Giraudoux in 1957.

From 1961, he worked in collaboration with Rob Gnant and June Kovach and was active in film politics, being a founding member of the Swiss Film Centre and Executive Secretary of the Association of Swiss Film Makers.

We are pleased to have Alexander J. Seiler here as a guest of this Festival. He will introduce a screening of each of his films and answer questions from the audience. They are Siamo Italiani Sunday 20th June 1999 and Palaver, Palaver Friday 25th June 1999.