Whether Korean series fans making a pilgrimage to Lake Brienz, an Indian film team in Interlaken or James Bond visits: Switzerland and its beautiful backdrops are attractive for foreign productions. But competition is fierce and you have to learn to sell yourself to survive in this lucrative market.
This content was published on December 22, 2023 – 06:00 December 22, 2023 – 06:00
Gilles Clémençon, Stéphane Saporito, Catherine Sommer, RTS
Switzerland and cinema – this is a love story that lasts a long time. Many people first think of James Bond with his walk over the Furka Pass in “Goldfinger” and his jump from a Ticino dam in “Goldeneye”. But also to Marion Cotillard on the shores of Lake Geneva in “Contagion” by Steven Soderbergh or Juliette Binoche in Graubünden in “Sils Maria” by Olivier Assayas.
See a list of the most important films shot in Switzerland on the Switzerland Tourism websiteExternal link
With spectacular landscapes, snow-capped mountains, idyllic rivers and romantic locations, Switzerland offers a whole range of backdrops that are attractive for foreign productions. The country appears everywhere in Asian films.
A footbridge that causes tourists to panic
Recently it was a South Korean series that achieved worldwide success. Almost all of Asia saw the famous scene from “Crash Landing on You”, a Netflix series released in 2019, in which two lovers meet on Lake Brienz.
Since then, the footbridge in the small village of Iseltwald has become famous and tourists come in large numbers. Many Asians wouldn’t miss this place: “We came here for our honeymoon and it’s a very special moment for me,” said Son Ye-Jin, a South Korean tourist who shares the same name as the leading actress, in the TV show Focus and explained that this place in her country had become “very special.”
“It’s extraordinary, I love this series, I really wanted to see it,” agreed a woman from the Philippines.
Read our report on the topic:
The small Bernese village has now become a victim of its success; so much so that local authorities have decided to charge tourists a fee to access the jetty in order to limit the crowds. Some residents also complained that tourists look at the place and leave straight away without spending anything.
However, for some it is a good deal. In the village restaurant, where the South Koreans have just eaten a daily special, people are not unhappy about the guests from the Far East. “This is very positive for a small village like Iseltwald. The demand is so great that people come to Switzerland just for that reason, which is very interesting,” reports restaurant owner Joe Wyrsch.
Indian productions with Swiss mountains
Not far from Iseltwald, in Interlaken, an Indian producer has just arrived to explore the area for a future film. Sharoz Ali Khan looks for locations where the director can film two people throwing stones into the water, with a Swiss backdrop and trains passing by in the background.
The producer says he is looking for the beauty of Switzerland and its climate. “And above all, Switzerland is a brand for us,” he affirms. This attraction of Bollywood started almost 30 years ago with Yash Chopra’s film ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’. This 1995 romantic comedy focused on Interlaken and was a huge success. And since Chopra is a star in India, the film soon attracted many tourists to Switzerland.
This was followed by Indian films that showcased the Swiss landscapes. “This is a good example that films can improve promotion of a country, tourism, economy and cultural exchange. This is very important,” commented Sharoz Ali Khan. He added that there is a joke in India: If a boy proposes to a girl, the girl would only agree if her future husband took her on a honeymoon to Interlaken.
Growing competition from abroad
However, the romance between Switzerland and Asian film is no longer as strong as it once was. The tourists are still there, but the films are becoming increasingly rare. This is because, unlike Switzerland, other countries have very attractive policies to attract foreign production.
“They started giving discounts, offering facilities, for example accommodation, free local teams, transport, a whole system of refunds. That’s why many directors went elsewhere, especially to Hungary, which offers good deals, or to Italy, Austria and recently to Norway, Finland and even France,” emphasizes Sharoz Ali Khan.
In 2015, some scenes of the James Bond film titled Specter were supposed to have been shot in the Bernese Alps, but the team had Austria was ultimately preferred for economic reasonsExternal link.
Archive article: The filming of the James Bond film (“On Her Majesty’s Service”) on the Schilthorn in 1968:
Competition is becoming increasingly fierce and every country sells itself with discounts, especially during the Cannes Film Festival, the film industry’s annual trade fair. For every franc invested in a film, the host country pays the money directly to the producers, among other financial benefits.
Movies almost free
Tristan Albrecht works for the Valais Film Commission, a newly founded body that aims to support audiovisual productions in the canton. The productions choose from various combinations and receive up to 500,000 francs back.
“There are many films, productions that move on and shoot in multiple countries, but not for artistic reasons,” he adds. They move from one country to another because they get something in one country and something else in another, a co-production or partnerships, for example. “Give and take, in the end you almost have a free film. Or at least a large part of it is refunded.”
For its part, the Valais Film Commission offers refunds of between 15% and 35%. In the first year of its activity, 500,000 francs were reimbursed. On her website she even suggests filming locations with glaciers and huts.
Only recently have people in Switzerland realized that they have to sell themselves. For Tristan Albrecht, Switzerland has no film industry and people are only slowly beginning to understand that film is an industry and therefore an economy. “In Switzerland, people love money, but they put it somewhere other than films. And that’s where you can see that there is interest.” In his eyes, people in Valais are becoming aware that the economy is not only linked to tourism, but that tourism, business and culture can work together. And with the rise of streaming platforms, there is a lot of money at stake.
Stand out and collaborate
Switzerland is at a turning point: the country has passed a law that requires streaming platforms to invest in the countries in which they stream. The law won’t come into force until January 1st, but the movement is already well underway.
Filming for the series “Winter Palace” began in a former hotel in Caux, above Montreux in Vaud. The budget for these eight episodes in historical costumes amounts to several million francs. In addition to RTS, the giant Netflix has also raised money, while a French company will take over distribution abroad.
For director Pierre Monnard, “it is an opportunity for Switzerland as a filming location and also an opportunity for Swiss technicians because we will be given greater resources for more ambitious projects.”
The producer of the series David Rihs, director of Point Prod, also emphasizes that Switzerland can now finally “qualify for the Champions League of the series”. He points out that the risk for Switzerland is to fly under the radar because the country is small, there are three languages and not every micro-territory is important to a major international broadcaster. But “the fact that we have a stimulus fund means that we suddenly exist on this map.”
The series, which will be released in a year, will be broadcast worldwide. An opportunity for Switzerland to showcase its symbols and mountains, be mentioned internationally, spread its culture and exert its influence directly.
Translated from French: Janine Gloor
In accordance with JTI standards
More: JTI certification from SWI swissinfo.ch
2023-12-22 05:08:04
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