Honorary Award 2020

Honorary Award 2020 for Markus Imhoof

Markus Imhoof has written Swiss film history with his works. Numerous awards and honours bear witness to the well-merited worldwide recognition of this great director. “More than Honey” (2012) is still the most successful Swiss documentary film of all time. Coupling the political with the personal… and always in search of humaneness. This is how to describe Markus Imhoof’s work.

Imhoof repeatedly ran into trouble with his cinematic art. After his prison film “Rondo” (1968) was banned, he took on a job as a prison guard and wrote the screenplay for his first feature film “Escape Risk” (1974). He later worked undetected as “Eisenwichser” in the underground canals in his native city Winterthur.

In 1981, his feature film “The Boat is Full” – a critical look at Switzerland’s restrictive refugee policy during the Second World War – was nominated for an Oscar. Imhoof takes up the theme again decades later with his second feature-length documentary film “Eldorado” (2018). The film combined today’s global humanitarian crisis with the director’s personal experience. Switzerland sent this harrowing and forceful drama into the running for an Oscar.

“In the end, the only thing we have left are memories based on love.” (Markus Imhoof, “Eldorado”, 2018)

Appreciation nomination committee

Markus Imhoof Swissfilms

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