Directing
When young Sara stumbles upon a bundle of old letters and drawings, she finds herself transported back to the 19th Century world of her ancestor David. 1810. David is a young conscript returning home from Napoleon's brutal Russian campaign. Forced to recognise that he has no future at home in the Swiss countryside, he sets off for North America in the hope of a better life, but he never forgets the homeland. Set between the dramatic context of the Napoleonic wars and the mass exodus that followed in the years after to America, “Fremds Land” is a film about emigration and homesickness, about the universal need to create a better life, wherever that may be.
Young archaeologist Nina never imagined that finding a medieval object in a reed bed in the Obwalden municipality of Giswil would turn her life upside down. And Baggel-Rot, Brandi-Guchs, Bichel-Botsch, Buggel-Wyyss, and Mattli-Latz would never have dreamed that it would end like this, back in Torenberg's time, when they set out on Good Friday night in 1381 to save Obwalden's honor and teach the Entlebuchers a lesson.
The film is set in the Bronze Age: Anuk's mountain village is attacked by a tribe of horsemen. He sets out on a journey to save his people. He must follow the path of the warrior.
King Rudolf of Habsburg dies in July 1291, leaving the valleys around Lake Lucerne in a power vacuum. The new despotic bailiff named Gissler proves to be a tyrant. Humiliated and robbed, Tell finds himself caught up in politics, which he had wanted to avoid. The planned uprising by the local nobility is off the table after they are bought off by Gissler. This prompts Tell to act on his own authority. In December 1291, the saga ends in bloodshed.
Part documentary (including interviews with Paul Verhoeven and Eugen Drewermann) part docudrama film about Jesus Christ, directed by Swiss rock musician and filmmaker Luke Gasser.
