Step Across the Border

Sep 8, 1990

1h 30m

★ 7.9

A ninety minute celluloid improvisation

Overview

An avant-garde documentary film on English guitarist, composer and improviser Fred Frith.

Genres

Documentary

Music

Production Companies

Pro Helvetia

Balzli & Cie Filmproduktion

Cinomades Filmproduktion

Step Across the Border Trailers

Cast

Self

Fred Frith

Butterfly Wing

Jonas Mekas

Koan vom Klang einer Hand

John Spacely

Koan vom Klang einer Hand

Julia Judge

Koan vom Klang einer Hand

Tom Walker

Television Dancer

Ted Milton

Old Man in Train

Robert Frank

Self

Cyro Baptista

Self

Joey Baron

Self

Iva Bittová

Self

Tom Cora

Self

Jean Derome

An intimate portrayal of the everyday lives of Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse, high in the French Alps (Chartreuse Mountains). The idea for the film was proposed to the monks in 1984, but the Carthusians said they wanted time to think about it. The Carthusians finally contacted Gröning 16 years later to say they were now willing to permit Gröning to shoot the movie, if he was still interested.

0.0

GLOW

Jun 15, 2023

She was a muse, model and performer – a star, dazzling and intense. Lady Shiva managed to rise from street prostitution to the top. She lived in the fast lane and died tragically young. Her dream was to become a singer. With her companions, we trace her life during a vibrant time that kindles a yearning and provokes until today. The story of a woman’s meteoric fate and a great dream. An irrepressible desire for freedom in all its beauty and destructive force - and a stirring friendship and love.

7.2

Bear-Like

Dec 12, 2019

At the far end of the Alaskan peninsula, for filmmaker Roman Droux a childhood dream comes true. He discovers together with the bear researcher David Bittner the universe of wild grizzlies. The two adventurists face bears at smelling-distance, experience the struggle for survival of a bear family and witness dramatic fighting scenes. Driven by a desire to explore the unknown the film tells a personal story of wilderness, framed in breathtaking pictures of unique creatures.

7.0

Arada

May 27, 2021

The story of three Turkish men. They all grew up in Switzerland and all got deported after various criminal offenses.

0.0

Zwischenwelten - Unterschiedliche Wege des Heilens

Apr 16, 2020

A documentary about healers from the Swiss canton of Appenzell.

10.0

Dimitri - Clown

Nov 11, 2004

No overview available.

0.0

Hugo Koblet - The Charming Cyclist

Sep 16, 2010

Zurich-born Hugo Koblet was the first international cycling star of the post-war period. He was a stylist on the bicycle and in life, and a huge heartthrob. Koblet had a meteoric rise and won the Giro d'Italia in 1950. Once he had reached the zenith of his career, Koblet was put under pressure by overly ambitious officials and ended up ruining his health with drugs. In 1954, he married a well-known model and they became a celebrity dream couple. After his athletic career ended, Koblet began to lose his footing. Threatened by bankruptcy, he crashed his Alfa into a tree.

6.4

Genesis 2.0

Nov 28, 2018

A well-preserved mammoth carcass is found in the remote New Siberian Islands in the Arctic Ocean, opening up the possibility of a world-changing “Jurassic Park” moment in genetics.

6.2

The Shelter

Aug 10, 2014

It is winter at an emergency shelter for the homeless in Lausanne. Every night at the door of this little-known basement facility the same entry ritual takes place, resulting in confrontations which can sometimes turn violent. Those on duty at the shelter have the difficult task of “triaging the poor”: the women and children first, then the men. Although the total capacity at the shelter is 100, only 50 “chosen ones” will be admitted inside and granted a warm meal and a bed. The others know it will be a long night.

8.0

Hardcore Chambermusic

Nov 30, 2006

This documentary follows Swiss improvisation musicians and tells their stories.

0.0

Mit dem Bauch durch die Wand

Jan 20, 2011

Women bring children into the world. But when, as in the case of Sandra, Jasmine and Jennifer, you're not yet eighteen and your belly is starting to round out, that's when people look at you sideways. And once the baby's here, life with a child is a far greater challenge than we ever imagined in our rosy teenage dreams. A long-term study of three very young mothers, their children and their fathers. A film about their first great love, their professional futures and their dreams for the future.

0.0

Dieter Roth

Aug 6, 2003

Dieter Roth was an artist who combined art and life in a unique way. He painted, drew, printed, wrote, filmed and made music. He created his own universe in which he turned all materials, no matter how banal or ephemeral, into art. The film "Dieter Roth" is conceived as an inner and outer journey, just as Dieter Roth lived, worked, taught, learned, loved and suffered while traveling. The starting point is his works, including videos and films in which he himself acts - friends and companions will also accompany this cinematic journey, above all his son Björn, who has worked with him for the last 20 years.

6.3

Do It

Nov 16, 2000

Odyssey of the fortune-teller Daniele von Arb who, aged sixteen, joined the revolutionary underground and made the headlines as a top Swiss terrorist.

No Image Available

0.0

L'homme des casernes

Mar 10, 1994

This film deals with the issue of mandatory military service in Switzerland. For four months, from February to May 1990, filmmaker Jacqueline Veuve and her team filmed a platoon engaged in basic training at Colombier, Switzerland.

0.0

Accordion Tribe: Music Travels

Jan 29, 2004

Five highly original musicians from different countries form the Accordion Tribe. Together they aim to reinforce the original power of the long disdained instrument. The film follows the energetic soundscapes and their performers on a journey through Europe. An extraordinarily intensive documentary on the communicative, connecting power of music.

6.1

Above and Below

Jan 22, 2015

Above and Below is a rough and rhythmic roller coaster ride seating five survivors in their daily hustle through an apocalyptic world. A journey of challenges and beauty in uncomfortable places: Rick & Cindy, Godfather Lalo in the flood channels deep down under the shiny strip of Sin City. Dave in the dry and lonesome Californian desert and April in simulation for a Mars mission in the Utah desert. Through the hustle, the pain and the laughs, we are whisked away to an unfamiliar world, yet quickly discover the souls we encounter are perhaps not that different from our own.

6.7

The Fortress

Aug 6, 2008

The personal stories of the people from all around the world waiting for a decision in an asylum-seekers centre in one of most restrictive countries in the world, Switzerland.

8.0

Delphine Seyrig, portrait d'une comète

Aug 1, 2000

Delphine Seyrig, an extraordinary woman and actress, died on October 15, 1990. From "Last Year at Marienbad" by Alain Resnais to "India Song" by Marguerite Duras, she played in 34 films for cinema, 13 films for television and 33 plays. Jacqueline Veuve, filmmaker and friend of Delphine Seyrig, wanted to break the silence that has fallen on her memory by making a documentary that traces with emotion and subjectivity the life of the mythical actress, the fierce feminist but also the simple friend.

0.0

The Knowledge of Healing

May 22, 1997

A documentary film about Tibetan traditional medicine.