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SFFILM Festival

Those Who Are Fine

Directed by Cyril Schäublin

Switzerland | 71

11 Apr
Wed, Apr 11, 2018 at 6:00 pm PT

Description

Through striking framing, intense angles, fragmented scenes, and amusing conversations that at first seem to be unrelated, Those Who Are Fine weaves together stories of a young woman at a telemarketing company who takes advantage of the elderly by convincing them to give her large sums of cash. Director Cyril Schäublin’s bold and precisely assembled debut astutely captures a world where every character is either on or using a device and surveillance is everywhere but fails to protect.

“Perhaps that’s the way the filmmakers’ nationality most reveals itself in this impressively uncompromising debut — Those Who Are Fine is not crafted with the cutesy artisanship of Harry Lime’s cuckoo clock, but it ticks through its brief 71 minutes with the implacable, impersonal, perfect engineering of a high-end Swiss watch.” – Jessica Kiang, Variety

“In Those Who Are Fine, urban architecture and the details of seemingly trivial actions such as withdrawing money from a cashpoint become an integral part of the film, as if characters in themselves. The human beings depicted by Schäublin are no longer any more humane than the places that surround them (in this case, the city). Their faces are inexpressive and their lives, despite an apparent stability, are just an endless series of repeated, automatic, and passionless gestures. The director depicts the disturbing beauty of daily life given rhythm by hyper-control. Those Who Are Fine is a seductively cynical film.” – Muriel Del Don, Cineuropa

Director Cyril Schäublin

Cyril Schäublin left his native Switzerland to study Mandarin and Film at the Beijing Central Drama Academy and received his MFA at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin, where he was mentored by Lav Diaz and James Benning. Among his short films is Lenny (2009), which was nominated for numerous festival awards. He received a Best First Feature – Special Mention award at the Locarno International Film Festival.

Trailer

//player.vimeo.com/video/258417414

Film Details

Language Swiss, German

Year 2017

Premiere US

Runtime 71

Country Switzerland

Director Cyril Schäublin

Producer Cyril Schäublin, Silvan Hillmann

Writer Cyril Schäublin

Editor Cyril Schäublin, Silvan Hillmann

Cinematographer Silvan Hillmann

Music Linda Vogel

Cast Sarah Stauffer, Daniel Bachmann, Nikolai Bosshardt