The prolific Swiss director Alain Tanner, considered a pioneer of the New Wave cinematographic movement in his country, died on Sunday at the age of 92, announced the association that bears his name.
"
Internationally recognized, Alain Tanner was one of the leading figures of Swiss cinema and was at the origin of the new Swiss cinema in the 1970s in the company of his colleagues Michel Soutter, Claude Goretta, Jean-Louis Roy and Jean-Jacques Lagrange
”, she wrote in a statement released “
in consultation with her family
”.
Committed cinema
This "Group of Five" sparked a revival of the Swiss seventh art reflecting the spirit of non-conformity of the time.
Charles, Mort ou Vif
, the first feature film, released in 1969, by Alain Tanner, a contemporary of the New Wave in France, marked the beginning of politically engaged cinema in Switzerland.
This film, which tells the story of a businessman who decides to abandon the traditional capitalist life to lead a life on the fringes of society, at a time when student protests are raging, won the first prize of the festival from Locarno.
Among his best-known works are
La Salamandre
,
Jonas, who will be 25 in the year 2000
,
Les Années Lumière
, which won the Special Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1981, and
Dans la Ville Blanche
.
With a total of over twenty films to his name, Alain Tanner began his career in the late 1950s. According to the Association Alain Tanner website, he said he considered himself lucky to have lived at that time.
