Popular from Switzerland
Pingu
This stop-motion claymated television series follows a family of a penguins living at the South Pole.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland, United Kingdom • 1986
- Creator Otmar Gutmann, Erika Brueggemann
- Cast Marcello Magni, David Sant
- Genre Animation, Comedy, Kids
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, The Roku Channel, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
New Heights
(Neumatt)
A city boy inherits a failing farm, and with it, family drama.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland • 2021
- Creator Marianne Wendt
- Cast Julian Koechlin, Sophie Hutter, Anouk Petri, Jérôme Humm, Marlise Fischer, Rachel Braunschweig
- Genre Drama
- Available on Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads
Three Colors: Red
(Trois couleurs : Rouge)
Valentine is outraged that an ex-judge in her neighborhood taps phone calls, but their debates lead to a strange bond.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland, France, Poland • 1994
- Director Krzysztof Kieślowski
- Cast Irène Jacob, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Jean-Pierre Lorit, Frédérique Feder, Samuel Le Bihan, Marion Stalens
- Genre Drama, Mystery, Romance
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Amazon Video
Three Colors: White
(Trois couleurs : Blanc)
After his wife divorces him and frames him for arson, a Polish expatriate plots his revenge.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland, France, Poland • 1994
- Director Krzysztof Kieślowski
- Cast Zbigniew Zamachowski, Julie Delpy, Janusz Gajos, Jerzy Stuhr, Aleksander Bardini, Grzegorz Warchoł
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Mystery
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Amazon Video
Take and Run
(Ala Kachuu)
Sezim is a young Kyrgyz woman with dreams of studying in the capital, but her plans are cut short when she's kidnapped and forced to marry a stranger.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland, Kyrgyzstan • 2020
- Director Maria Brendle
- Cast Alina Turdumamatova, Nurbek Esengazy Uulu, Madina Talipbek, Taalaikan Abazova, Kanat Abdahmanov, Aybike Erkinbekova
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel
Under the Skin
Unsuspecting men fall under the spell of a seductive alien that prowls the streets of Glasgow.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States • 2014
- Director Jonathan Glazer
- Cast Scarlett Johansson, Kryštof Hádek, Paul Brannigan, Michael Moreland, Scott Dymond, Jeremy McWilliams
- Genre Drama, Science Fiction, Thriller
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, FlixFling, Kanopy
Unrest
(Unrueh)
In late 19th century Switzerland, a factory worker becomes involved with a local group of anarchist watchmakers.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland • 2022
- Director Cyril Schäublin
- Cast Stefano Knuchel, Valentin Merz, Clara Gostynski, Alexei Evstratov, Laurence Bretignier, Li Tavor
- Genre Drama, History
- Available on Criterion Channel, Amazon Video
New from Switzerland
Pingu
This stop-motion claymated television series follows a family of a penguins living at the South Pole.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland, United Kingdom • 1986
- Creator Otmar Gutmann, Erika Brueggemann
- Cast Marcello Magni, David Sant
- Genre Animation, Comedy, Kids
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, The Roku Channel, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Scene of the Crime
(Tatort)
German, Austrian, and Swiss police solve complex crimes in this long-running crime procedural.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- West Germany, Austria, Switzerland • 1970
- Creator Günter Rohrbach, Gunther Witte
- Cast
- Genre Crime, Drama
- Available on Amazon Video, The Roku Channel, Hoopla, MZ Choice Amazon Channel, Mhz Choice
The Year of the Discovery
(El año del descubrimiento)
In the shadow of the 1992 Olympic Games held in Spain, massive labor riots erupt in Cartagena.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain, Switzerland • 2020
- Director Luis López Carrasco
- Cast
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Film Movement Plus
Thunder
(Foudre)
Amidst tradition's grip, Elisabeth forges her path in 1900 Switzerland, unraveling secrets and defying the village order for the right to live freely.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland • 2022
- Director Carmen Jaquier
- Cast Lilith Grasmung, Noah Watzlawick, Benjamin Python, Mermoz Melchior, François Revaclier, Sabine Timoteo
- Genre Drama, History
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV
Jean de Florette
When Jean de Florette inherits land in Provence, he decides to take up farming. But his scheming neighbors have other plans…
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Switzerland, Italy • 1986
- Director Claude Berri
- Cast Yves Montand, Gérard Depardieu, Daniel Auteuil, Elisabeth Depardieu, Margarita Lozano, Ernestine Mazurowna
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel
Labyrinth of Peace
(Frieden)
In the aftermath of World War II, neutral Switzerland finds itself a nexus of escaped Nazi war criminals, Holocaust survivors, and spies.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland • 2020
- Creator Michael Schaerer, Petra Biondina Volpe
- Cast Miron Sharshunov, Gustav Strunz, Britta Güntert, Dimitri Stapfer, Annina Walt, Max Hubacher
- Genre Drama
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Chai Flicks, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Unrest
(Unrueh)
In late 19th century Switzerland, a factory worker becomes involved with a local group of anarchist watchmakers.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland • 2022
- Director Cyril Schäublin
- Cast Stefano Knuchel, Valentin Merz, Clara Gostynski, Alexei Evstratov, Laurence Bretignier, Li Tavor
- Genre Drama, History
- Available on Criterion Channel, Amazon Video
La Chimera
Arthur, an archaeologist with a supernatural gift for locating Etruscan relics, reunites with a ragtag group of tomb raiders.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France, Switzerland • 2023
- Director Alice Rohrwacher
- Cast Isabella Rossellini, Josh O'Connor, Carol Duarte, Alba Rohrwacher, Vincenzo Nemolato, Chiara Pazzaglia
- Genre Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Microsoft Store
The Promise
(Das Versprechen)
A love, a hope, a wall.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Germany, France, Switzerland • 1995
- Director Margarethe von Trotta
- Cast Meret Becker, Corinna Harfouch, Anian Zollner, August Zirner, Eva Mattes, Hark Bohm
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on MUBI
Telescope Recommends
In the Mirror of Maya Deren
(Im Spiegel der Maya Deren)
Documentary about the life of avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren, who led the independent film movement of the 1940s.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Austria, Czech Republic, Switzerland • 2002
- Director Martina Kudlácek
- Cast Maya Deren, Stan Brakhage, Judith Malina, Alexander Hammid, Chao Li Chi, Miriam Arsham
- Genre Documentary
- Available on OVID, Kanopy
Three Colors: White
(Trois couleurs : Blanc)
After his wife divorces him and frames him for arson, a Polish expatriate plots his revenge.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland, France, Poland • 1994
- Director Krzysztof Kieślowski
- Cast Zbigniew Zamachowski, Julie Delpy, Janusz Gajos, Jerzy Stuhr, Aleksander Bardini, Grzegorz Warchoł
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Mystery
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Amazon Video
Happy as Lazzaro
(Lazzaro felice)
A pure-hearted sharecropper Lazzaro forms an unlikely friendship that will change his world.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, Switzerland, France • 2018
- Director Alice Rohrwacher
- Cast Adriano Tardiolo, Agnese Graziani, Luca Chikovani, Alba Rohrwacher, Sergi López, Tommaso Ragno
- Genre Drama
- Available on Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads
One Day in September
The full story of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre that emphasizes the role of the incompetent German authorities.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland, Germany, United Kingdom • 1999
- Director Kevin Macdonald
- Cast Michael Douglas, Ankie Spitzer, Jamal Al Gashey, Gerald Seymour, Axel Springer, Gad Zahari
- Genre Documentary
- Available on ScreenPix Apple TV Channel
Océans
What wonders await under the surface of the oceans?
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Switzerland, Spain • 2009
- Director Jacques Perrin
- Cast Pierce Brosnan, Lancelot Perrin
- Genre Documentary, Family
- Available on Disney Plus, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, AMC on Demand
The Guardians
(Les Gardiennes)
While the men go off to war, the women of the Paridier farm take charge.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Switzerland • 2017
- Director Xavier Beauvois
- Cast Nathalie Baye, Laura Smet, Iris Bry, Cyril Descours, Olivier Rabourdin, Gilbert Bonneau
- Genre Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, Tubi TV, Freevee, Kanopy, Hoopla, Plex, Plex Channel
Sister
(L'enfant d'en haut)
A young boy steals from rich patrons at a posh ski resort to support himself and his irresponsible older sister.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Switzerland • 2012
- Director Ursula Meier
- Cast Kacey Mottet Klein, Léa Seydoux, Martin Compston, Gillian Anderson, Jean-François Stévenin, Yann Trégouët
- Genre Drama
- Available on Metrograph, Apple TV, Amazon Video, Kanopy
Jean de Florette
When Jean de Florette inherits land in Provence, he decides to take up farming. But his scheming neighbors have other plans…
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Switzerland, Italy • 1986
- Director Claude Berri
- Cast Yves Montand, Gérard Depardieu, Daniel Auteuil, Elisabeth Depardieu, Margarita Lozano, Ernestine Mazurowna
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel
Winged Migration
(Le peuple migrateur)
Five film crews follow a rich variety of bird migrations through forty countries and across each of the seven continents.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Germany, Switzerland • 2001
- Director Jacques Perrin
- Cast Philippe Labro, Jacques Perrin
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Apple TV, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, AMC on Demand
Swiss Series
The Undertaker
(Der Bestatter)
A police detective leaves the force to take over the family business as an undertaker, where he discovers that the two jobs have some surprising areas of overlap.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland • 2013
- Creator Hartmut Block
- Cast Mike Müller, Barbara Terpoorten, Reto Stalder, Samuel Streiff, Suly Röthlisberger
- Genre Crime
- Available on Amazon Video, MZ Choice Amazon Channel, Mhz Choice
Banking District
(Quartier des banques)
A thriller set in the heart of the Swiss banking sector, where the members of a banking family wage a ruthless battle for control.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland, Belgium • 2017
- Creator Jean-Marc Fröhle
- Cast Laura Sépul, Féodor Atkine, Arnaud Binard, Vincent Kucholl, Brigitte Fossey, Lauriane Gilliéron
- Genre Drama, Mystery
- Available on Amazon Video, MZ Choice Amazon Channel, Mhz Choice
Wilder
A detective returns to her home town to come to terms with the death of her brother who died in an accident many years ago.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland • 2017
- Creator Béla Batthyany, Alexander Szombath
- Cast Sarah Spale, Marcus Signer
- Genre Crime
- Available on MZ Choice Amazon Channel, Mhz Choice
Labyrinth of Peace
(Frieden)
In the aftermath of World War II, neutral Switzerland finds itself a nexus of escaped Nazi war criminals, Holocaust survivors, and spies.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland • 2020
- Creator Michael Schaerer, Petra Biondina Volpe
- Cast Miron Sharshunov, Gustav Strunz, Britta Güntert, Dimitri Stapfer, Annina Walt, Max Hubacher
- Genre Drama
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Chai Flicks, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Scene of the Crime
(Tatort)
German, Austrian, and Swiss police solve complex crimes in this long-running crime procedural.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- West Germany, Austria, Switzerland • 1970
- Creator Günter Rohrbach, Gunther Witte
- Cast
- Genre Crime, Drama
- Available on Amazon Video, The Roku Channel, Hoopla, MZ Choice Amazon Channel, Mhz Choice
New Heights
(Neumatt)
A city boy inherits a failing farm, and with it, family drama.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland • 2021
- Creator Marianne Wendt
- Cast Julian Koechlin, Sophie Hutter, Anouk Petri, Jérôme Humm, Marlise Fischer, Rachel Braunschweig
- Genre Drama
- Available on Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads
Documentaries from Switzerland
Genesis 2.0
After the discovery of a well-preserved mammoth carcass, scientists hope it could be a major step forward in bioengineering.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland, China, Russia • 2018
- Director Christian Frei, Maxim Arbugaev
- Cast Peter Grigoriev, Semyon Grigoriev, George Church, Spira Sleptsov, Woo Suk Hwang
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Kanopy
Iraqi Odyssey
Acclaimed Iraqi filmmaker Samir traces his family’s widespread emigrations while paying homage to the frustrated democratic dreams of his homeland.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Iraq, Switzerland, Germany • 2014
- Director Samir
- Cast
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Apple TV, Amazon Video
A Skin So Soft
(Ta peau si lisse)
From the strongman to the top-class bodybuilder, these are the gladiators of modern times.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Canada, Switzerland • 2018
- Director Denis Côté
- Cast
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Fandor, Fandor Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Tubi TV, VUDU Free, Cineverse, Kanopy
Winged Migration
(Le peuple migrateur)
Five film crews follow a rich variety of bird migrations through forty countries and across each of the seven continents.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Germany, Switzerland • 2001
- Director Jacques Perrin
- Cast Philippe Labro, Jacques Perrin
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Apple TV, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, AMC on Demand
Advocate
(לאה צמל, עורכת דין)
The gripping true story of Lea Tsemel, a Jewish Israeli lawyer who represents Palestinian political prisoners.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Israel, Canada, Switzerland • 2019
- Director Philippe Bellaiche
- Cast Lea Tsemel
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Film Movement Plus, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy, Hoopla
My Sister Maria
(Meine Schwester Maria)
The life of classical Hollywood actress Maria Schell, as told by her brother.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Germany, Switzerland • 2002
- Director Maximilian Schell
- Cast Maria Schell, Maximilian Schell, Yul Brynner, Nastassja Schell, Gerhard Hannak
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Apple TV, Tubi TV
Homo Sapiens
The images could be taken from a science fiction film set on planet Earth after it’s become uninhabitable. All these locations carry the traces of erstwhile human existence and bear witness to a civilization that brought forth architecture, art, the entertainment industry, technologies, ideologies, wars and environmental disasters.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland, Germany, Austria • 2016
- Director Nikolaus Geyrhalter
- Cast
- Genre Documentary
- Available on OVID, DocAlliance Films, Apple TV, Kanopy
A German Youth
(Une jeunesse allemande)
Using archival footage, Jean-Gabriel Périot exposes the ideological and generational conflicts that fomented the violence that would define the Red Army Faction's legacy.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Switzerland, Germany • 2015
- Director Jean-Gabriel Périot
- Cast Harun Farocki, Philip W. Sauber, Holger Meins, Helke Sander, Jean-Luc Godard
- Genre Documentary
- Available on OVID, Kanopy
The Five Obstructions
(De fem benspænd)
About a filmmaker not only revisiting, but also recreating one of his first films, 1967's The Perfect Human five different ways.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium • 2003
- Director Jørgen Leth
- Cast Claus Nissen, Lars von Trier, Majken Algren Nielsen, Jacqueline Arenal, Daniel Hernandez Rodriguez
- Genre Documentary
- Available on MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel, Kanopy, Hoopla
The Circle
(Der Kreis)
Love should never be a crime
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland • 2014
- Director Stefan Haupt
- Cast Matthias Hungerbühler, Sven Schelker, Babett Arens, Aaron Hitz, Martin Hug, Peter Jecklin
- Genre Documentary, Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Fandango At Home, The Roku Channel, Kanopy
Wagner & Me
Stephen Fry attempts to separate art from the artist by exploring the music and history of composer Richard Wagner.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, Switzerland, Russia • 2010
- Director Patrick McGrady
- Cast Stephen Fry
- Genre Documentary, Music
- Available on Fandor Amazon Channel, Kanopy
Dead Souls
(死靈魂)
Meet the survivors of China's 1957 reeducation camps. Who are they? What did they face? And what's become of them now?
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland, France • 2018
- Director Wang Bing
- Cast
- Genre Documentary
- Available on OVID
Pope Francis: A Man of His Word
Hope is a universal message.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland, Holy See, Italy • 2018
- Director Wim Wenders
- Cast Pope Francis, Ignazio Oliva, Sister María Eufemia Goycoechea, Joe Biden, Daniele De Angelis
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube
Iranian
(Iranien)
An atheist Iranian filmmaker engages four mullahs in a group conversation about faith, belief, and daily life.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Switzerland, Iran • 2014
- Director Mehran Tamadon
- Cast Mohsen Kalhor
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Apple TV
The Year of the Discovery
(El año del descubrimiento)
In the shadow of the 1992 Olympic Games held in Spain, massive labor riots erupt in Cartagena.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain, Switzerland • 2020
- Director Luis López Carrasco
- Cast
- Genre Documentary
- Available on Film Movement Plus