PROFILES. Who are the directors behind the Swiss Crypto Stamp 2.0 NFTs?

Born in 1985 in Zurich, Switzerland. He moved to Mexico City in 2007, where he worked as a typographer. From 2009–14, he has worked in Berlin in cinema and theatre before studying film at HEAD – Genève (Haute école d'art et de design) in Geneva. His short films have been screened at international festivals. In 2018, he cofounded the production company Andrea Film. “De Noche Los Gatos Son Pardos”, his first feature film, will be presented at this year’s Locarno Film Festival.

Born in Berlin in 1993 as the son of an architect and a painter, Samuel Patthey spent a lively childhood immersed in art, culture and creativity. Accordingly, he started to study 2D Animation at the “HSLU Design und Kunst” Lucerne in Switzerland.

Samuel graduated in 2017 with the movie “Travelogue Tel Aviv”. Based now in Fribourg, Switzerland, he works as an animation film director and illustrator. His first movie “Ecorce” premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in 2020.

Currently, Samuel Patthey works on his upcoming short.

Elie Grappe studied classical music at the Conservatoire national de Lyon before going on to study film-making at the École cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL) from 2011 to 2015.

At ECAL, he directed the short films “Répétitions” and “Suspendu”, which were nominated for and received awards at several international festivals.
After graduating, he co-directed a music documentary called “Hors scène” with Timothée Zurbuchen. He then directed the casting and coached the actors for Blaise Harrison’s film, “Particles”, which was selected for Directors’ Fortnight in 2019.

In July 2021, his first feature film “Olga” was nominated to compete in the 60th Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival, where it received the SACD Prize. Since then, the film has screened at festivals in Karlovy Vary, Odessa, Brussels and Hamburg. It was released in cinemas on 17 November 2021 and distributed in over 20 countries.

“Olga” was the Swiss entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 2022 Oscars. In March 2022, “Olga” won a Quartz in each of the categories Best Film, Best Screenplay and Best Sound at the Swiss Film Award.

Klaudia Reynicke is a screenwriter and film director of Swiss and Peruvian nationality who grew up in Peru, Switzerland and the United States.

Before dedicating herself to cinema she graduated in Fine Arts and Social and Political Sciences. In 2010 she obtained an M.A. in filmmaking from the Ecole Cantonal d'Art de Lausanne (ECAL) and the Haute Ecole d'Art et de Design de Genève (HEAD).

Afterwards, Klaudia Reynicke directed several documentaries for cinema and Swiss Italian Television (RSI). “Il Nido” (2016) produced by Amka Films (CH) and Tempesta Films (ITA) marks her first feature film, it was presented in the "filmmakers of the present" competition at the 2016 Locarno Film Festival.

“Love me tender” (2019), produced by Amka Films (CH), marks her second feature film. It was presented in the same section at the Locarno Film Festival 2019 and had its International premiere at TIFF - Toronto International Film Festival 2019. “Love me Tender” attended various prestigious festivals, among them BFI - London, European Film Festival of Sevilla, BAFICI and AFI Los Angeles Film Festival.

Klaudia Reynicke is preparing her third feature “Reinas”, which is scheduled to be shot in Peru in early 2023.

Maya Kosa, of Polish origin, was born in Geneva in 1985. Sergio da Costa, of Portuguese origin, was born in Lausanne in 1984. In 2014, after studying film at Geneva University of Art and Design, they created their first feature film, “Rio Corgo”, a mix of a documentary and fiction.

The film premiered internationally in the Forum section at the Berlin Film Festival in 2016 and was released the same year in Switzerland, France and Portugal.

Their latest feature film, “Bird Island”, winner of the Migros Culture Percentage Documentary, premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in 2019. It then screened at various international festivals such as San Sebastian, Rotterdam, Mar del Plata, Viennale and Dok Leipzig, scooping up several awards. In 2020, it was nominated for the Swiss Film Award in the Best Documentary category.

Maya Kosa and Sergio da Costa are currently developing their third feature film, “Une femme imparfaite”, set in the Chinese community in Lisbon.

Denise Fernandes was born in Lisbon to Cape Verdean parents and raised in the Italian side of Switzerland. She studied filmmaking in Switzerland and at the International School of Film and TV in Cuba.

Her latest short film, “Nha Mila” (2020) had its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival. Awarded at the 28th Curtas Vila do Conde Festival, “Nha Mila” was one of 24 short film candidates for the European Film Awards 2020 and was invited to the 50th New Directors New Films Festival in New York. She is currently working on her first feature film, “Hanami”.

Cyril Schäublin (*1984) grew up in Switzerland and studied cinema in Beijing and in Berlin. His films premiered at festivals such as Berlinale, Locarno, New York Film Festival or San Sebastián, amongst them DENE WOS GUET GEIT (2017) or UNRUEH (2022).

Born in 1989 in Bienne. She studied film at ECAL Lausanne and fine arts in Prague, as well as at ZHDK Zurich. Her latest short film "Chute" won the Pardino d'Oro at the Locarno Film Festival 2021 and the Golden Puffin at the Reykjavík International Film Festival and has been screened at international festivals.

Her 2019 short film "Bloc B", as well as the following short film "Chute" were shown at international Festivals and were both awarded at the International Short Film Festival Winterthur.

Yan is a visual artist, 2D/3D motion and visual designer, and VFX artist from Solothurn. He began his career as an intern at a photography and video studio, before gaining an art degree and pursuing a career in visual communication, with a focus on corporate communication and branding. During this time, in addition to numerous freelance projects, he founded a marketing and branding agency targeted at SMEs.

Alongside this more conventional work, Yan taught at SUPSI and continued developing his animation/motion graphics, video and visual effects skills, working on a number of projects for Swiss television and in advertising. A VFX course at Lost Boys Studios in Vancouver, Canada opened the door to roles in visual effects on major blockbusters, including “Wonder Woman”, “Annihilation”, “Deadpool 2” and the Oscar-winning “Blade Runner 2049”.

After several years working on VFX for movies and TV and a move to Montréal, Yan joined multimedia entertainment studio Moment Factory, where he branched out into audiovisual immersion and motion design/3D and worked with state-of-the-art technology. During this period, he was involved in a wide range of projects, from more intimate productions such as “the Grammys” and “Alta Lumina” in France to major productions such as Disney World and the MTV Music Awards.

Now based in Switzerland again, Yan Hirschbühl is working with new clients, using his technical and design skills to tell stories and build worlds.

Born in 1985 in Georgia. Elene Naveriani is a director, now living in Switzerland. They graduated from the Tbilisi State Academy of Art in monumental painting in 2003.
After a Master’s in Critical Curatorial Cybermedia at the HEAD – Geneva (Geneva School of Art and Design), they started their studies in Cinema. Their graduation short film “Gospel of Anasyrma” (2014) was acclaimed for its distinctive signature and stance. Elene’s work makes invisible stories visible, unheard voices heard, and creates a space for marginalised lives.

Elene practises a cinema of resistance. In keeping with that line, their first feature “I Am Truly a Drop of Sun on Earth” (2017) premiered in Rotterdam and was awarded numerous prizes (Seoul, Xining, Valladolid, Porto). Elene also directed two further short films that received considerable acclaim. “Red Ants Bite” (2019) was nominated for the best Swiss short film award.

In 2021, their second feature film “Wet Sand” had its World Premiere in Locarno in August 2021 to glowing reviews and earned the Best Actor’s prize. Among other prizes Elene received the Prix de Soleure and was nominated in best Swiss feature film award. Elene is currently working on the new feature film “Blackbird, Blackbird, Blackberry”, which is an adaptation of a Georgian feminist novel.