Curt Truninger
Directing
Biography
Curt Truninger (born April 12, 1957, in Lucerne, Switzerland) is a Swiss film director, screenwriter, and producer, also active as a painter, journalist, and occasional actor. Influenced early by French cinema, he studied social sciences and art history in Munich and Aberdeen, where he earned a doctorate. Truninger has worked extensively in television and documentary filmmaking for Swiss and German broadcasters, including ZDF and 3sat, and has collaborated with figures such as Richard Avedon. His feature films include Waiting for Michelangelo (1996), Dead by Monday (2001), and The Rendezvous (2010), which screened internationally and received multiple festival awards. A member of the European Film Academy, Truninger lives and works between Toronto and Zurich.
Known For
Dead by Monday is a darkly comic tale of love and death... but not necessarily in that order. Julie is a sweet, vulnerable young woman who lacks confidence and is obsessed with the memory of her dead husband whom she idealizes. Alex is an angry writer. Talented but unable to repeat the success of his first novel, he has nothing left to say. Or live for. He just wants to die. Fate introduces these two lost souls at the edge of a cliff. While picking flowers Julie accidentally falls off. Alex, who has come to blow his brains out, is interrupted by her cry for help, just before he pulls the trigger.
Dead by Monday
Kelly, a successful career woman and single mother, and her friend Evelyn are both in search of the ideal man. Kelly eventually finds herself torn between sophisticated art dealer Thomas and struggling writer Jonathan, while Evelyn continues her quest for a flesh and blood version of Michelangelo's "David". But will either woman find the happiness they are seeking?
Waiting for Michelangelo
An Afghan peasant family gets caught up in the turmoils during the Russian occupation. The shepherd find a wounded mujahideen and carries him home. The Mujahed dies that night. The dead body is discovered the next day and the shepherd arrested. His family decides to flee to Pakistan. Completely disheartened and destitute, they reach the refugee camp on the other side of the border after days of walking through desert and rocky areas. The family can't get their bearings. They are uprooted. The younger sister is grabbed in the open street and bartered off to a wealthy merchant.