Christian Frei

Christian Frei (born 1959 in Schönenwerd, Solothurn) is a Swiss filmmaker and film producer. He is mostly known for his films '' War Photographer'' (2001), '' The Giant Buddhas'' (2005) and '' Space Tourists'' (2009).

Frei has been an associate lecturer on Reflection Competence at the University of St. Gallen from 2006 to 2023. From 2006 to 2009 he was president of the "Documentary Film Commission" for the film section of the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, and from 2010 to 2022 he had held the position of President of the Swiss Film Academy.

Career

Frei follows his protagonists closely - always in search of authentic moments, and always keeping the whole picture in mind. Peter-Matthias Gaede said that Frei made films that avoided "noise, pompous gestures, the rush of speed" and that he and his cameraman (Peter Indergand) made films that were subtle and "exude quiet persistance". According to Kulturzeit, "What makes these films so extraordinary? They are authentic moments that endure. Christian Frei takes us along a perimeter that both divides and unites individuals and cultures: the tectonics of humanity."

Frei studied television at the Department of Journalism and Communications of the University of Fribourg. In 1981 he directed his first documentary short film, ''Die Stellvertreterin''. After co-directing ''Fortfahren'' with Ivo Kummer in 1984, he became an independent filmmaker and producer. He made another short film, ''Der Radwechsel''. Then he moved on to feature-length documentaries with ''Ricardo, Miriam y Fidel'' (1997). The documentary was described as being "surprisingly revealing" by the ''Chicago Tribune'', who went on to say that the "pain and disillusionment on both sides are in plain view". It portrays the rift between Miriam Martinez, who wants to leave Cuba for the US, and her father Ricardo Martinez - one of the founders of Fidel Castro's "Radio Rebelde". The ''Chicago Tribune'' goes on to say that the film "is equally sympathetic to Ricardo's revolutionary hopes and Miriam's hopelessness -- an amazing feat in a Cuban film."

'' War Photographer'' (2001) received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary and numerous prizes worldwide. For this feature-length documentary, Frei spent two years accompanying war photographer James Nachtwey to different war zones around the world. The film shows his protagonist to be a shy and reserved man, far from the hothead image associated with his profession. Frei intelligently plays with the role of the spectator, confronting him with the ambivalence of war photography and the role of the media. The documentary appeals to the spectators' sense for compassion and thematically approaches the theme of war itself.

With '' The Giant Buddhas'' (2005), Frei once again deals with a subject of strong political and global interest: The film revolves around the destruction of the two giant Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan's remote Bamiyan Valley. It is an essay "on faith and fanaticism, tolerance and terrorism, identity and ignorance, the ephemeral and our feeble attempts to preserve it". The film turned out to be a documentary that filled a necessary gap of knowledge far from the everyday media war reportage.

At the Sundance Film Festival in 2010 Frei won the "World Cinema Directing Award" for his film '' Space Tourists'' (2009). The documentary juxtaposes the journeys of the extremely rich tourists traveling with the astronauts into space with the poor Kazakh metal collectors risking their lives in search for rocket waste fallen down into the planes once the space shuttle has left. As a result, the film turns out to be a humorous and poetic declaration of love for planet earth. Critics acclaimed this film for its breathtaking imagery and richness of insights.

In 2014, '' Sleepless in New York'' premiered in competition at Visions du Réel, the Nyon International Documentary Film Festival. Frei dives into the frenzied nights of three newly rejected. Helen Fisher, an American biological anthropologist, reveals the astounding and profound processes that unfold in the brain of the lovesick. Working again with DOP Peter Indergand, they developed a spherical mirror to capture the solitude of the broken-hearted.

As producer, Frei released '' Raving Iran'', the first feature-length documentary directed by Susanne Regina Meures. She follows two Tehran DJs performing at illegal parties and planning to leave Iran. The film had its international premiere at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival Toronto and won awards at numerous film festivals.

The documentary '' Genesis 2.0'' had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2018 and was awarded with the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematography. Swiss cameraman Peter Intergand and the Russian filmmaker Maxim Arbugaev are responsible for the cinematography, Arbugaev also co-directed the film. ''Genesis 2.0'' follows mammoth hunters on the remote New Siberian Islands and portrays clone researchers and synthetic biologists in South Korea, China and USA.

In 2025, Christian Frei released his latest documentary ''BLAME''. After its world premiere as the opening film in Nyon at Visions du Réel — with a parallel screening in two sold-out venues and a standing ovation for protagonist Peter Daszak — BLAME traveled to São Paulo for É Tudo Verdade / It's All True and was shown simultaneously in Moscow at the 5th Contemporary Science Film Festival, where it was awarded the Grand Prix.

Visions du Réel programmer Anne Delseth describes the film as follows: "Just weeks after the emergence of COVID-19, filmmaker Christian Frei embarked on what he describes as a “cinematic journey,” guided by the stories and research of three scientists — and a few thousand bats. Due to geopolitical sensitivities, he had to stay under the radar, protecting both the locations and the people involved. Now, five years later, he presents Blame, a documentary-thriller that showcases one of cinema’s rare and powerful abilities: to stretch, knead, and distort time. At once a dense, far-reaching investigation and a snapshot of our present moment, the film juxtaposes the slow, patient, and meticulous rhythm of scientific inquiry with the urgent, reactive, and often toxic pace of political and media discourse. It offers a compelling demonstration of how, in times of crisis, we tend to seek out loud, simplistic narratives — and scapegoats. A strikingly contemporary tale, emblematic of an era marked by fake news, frozen subsidies, budget cuts, and a pervasive atmosphere of censorship."

In one of the first reviews covering the film, Screen Daily praised the film as "Chilling and alarming... and a fascinating lament for a lost era of common sense."

NZZ journalist Marcel Gyr missed critical distance in Frei´s work and called him "embedded" with Daszak.

Filmography

* ''Die Stellvertreterin'' (1981)
* ''Fortfahren'' (1982)
* ''Der Radwechsel'' (1984)
* ''Ricardo, Miriam y Fidel'' (1997)
* ''Kluge Köpfe'' (1998)
* ''Bollywood im Alpenrausch – Indische Filmemacher erobern die Schweiz'' (2000)
* '' War Photographer'' (2001)
* '' The Giant Buddhas'' (2005)
* '' Space Tourists'' (2009)
* '' Sleepless in New York'' (2014)
* '' Genesis 2.0'' (2018), co-directed by Maxim Arbugaev
* ''BLAME'' (2025)

Awards

* 2021 Honorary Doctorate PhD h.c. in Social Sciences University of St. Gallen

'' Ricardo, Miriam y Fidel''

* Basic Trust International Human Rights Film Festival Ramallah-Tel Aviv 2000: audience award

'' War Photographer''

* Academy Awards 2002: Nominated Best Documentary Feature
* Gregory Foster Peabody Award 2003
* Emmy 2004: Nomination Award for Cinematographer Peter Indergand
* Adolf Grimme Award 2003: Special Prize of the Ministry for Development, Culture and Sports
* Durban International Film Festival 2002: Best documentary
* Cologne Conference 2002: Winner Phoenix Price Best non-fiction
* Rehoboth Beach, Delaware Independent Film Festival 2002: audience award
* Viewpoint film festival Gent 2002: winner
* European Documentary Film Festival Oslo 2003: Eurodok award
* Dokufest, Pizren Dokumentary and Short Film Festival 2003: winner
* British Documentary Awards 2002: Shortlisted The Grierson Award Category International Documentary
* Swiss Film Award 2002: Nominated Best Documentary Film
* Docaviv Tel Aviv International Documentary Film Festival: winner
* Sichuan Television Festival: Gold Panda Award Best Long Documentary
* Telluride Mountainfilm, Mountain Film Festival Telluride (Colorado) 2003: Voice of Humanity Award

'' The Giant Buddhas''

* DOK Leipzig 2005: Silver Dove
* Dokufest, Pizren Dokumentary and Short Film Festival 2006: winner ex aequo
* Trento Film Festival 2006: Silver Gentian
* Reno Tahoe International Film Festival 2006: Best of the Fest – Documentary
* Sundance Film Festival 2006: Nominated Grand Jury Prize feature-length documentaries
* Swiss Film Award 2006: Nominated Best Documentary Film

'' Space Tourists''

* The Documentary Channel 2012: Jury prize "Best of Doc"
* Cervino Cine Mountain International Mountain Film Festival 2011: Miglior Grand Prix dei Festival 2011
* Beldocs Belgrad 2010: Best Photography Award
* Berg- und Abenteuerfilmfestival Graz 2010: Grand Prix Documentary Feature
* European Documentary Film Festival Oslo 2010: Eurodok Award
* Sundance Film Festival 2010: World Cinema Directing Award
* EBS International Documentary Festival Seoul 2010: Special jury prize
* Swiss Film Award 2010: Nominated Best Documentary

'' Genesis 2.0''

* Sundance Film Festival 2018: World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematography to Maxim Arbugaev und Peter Indergand
* 40th Moscow International Film Festival 2018: Audience Award
* 15th Seoul Eco Film Festival 2018: Best Feature Film
* Lunenburg Doc Fest 2018: Feature Documentary Award
* International Arctic Film Festival Golden Raven 2018: Golden Raven Award
* 9th DocUtah International Film Festival 2018: Best Foreign Film
* Zürcher Filmpreis 2018: Film Award City of Zurich
* Budapest International Documentary Film Festival 2019: Main Prize section ''Naked Truth''
* Swiss Film Award 2019: Nomination Best Documentary Film

References

Further reading

* The Tectonics of Humanity. GEO Edition Documentaries Christian Frei Collection, ed. by Warner Home Video Switzerland 2007.

External links

Norbert Creutz: Director’s Portrait Christian Frei, ed. by SwissFilms May 2006

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frei, Christian
1959 births
Living people
German-language film directors
Swiss film directors
Swiss film producers
University of Fribourg alumni
Swiss documentary filmmakers