Director’s Statement

For a long time I used to buy clothes from cheap brands without ever considering who might have made them. Now, young adults like me are becoming more and more aware of the terrible truth that is the textile industry. But until I came across a school essay from 1880, I was completely unaware that even Switzerland, a country now known for banks and chocolate, has a huge history of textiles and child workers.

The fact that a 12-year old boy describes a normal day as being threading needles from six in the morning until daylight was gone, just shocked me. How can we scorn other countries when our own history is no different? I knew that this was history too close to being forgotten.

At the same time, I always had this old photograph of two children in mind which used to hang at my aunt’s house. A portrait of my grandmother Emma and her older sister Anna. Those child eyes full of hope and an unbreakable belief that everything was possible, stood in direct contrast to that school essay. A conflict. A story I wanted to tell.

Using my own knowledge of playing the violin, I gave Emma the spirited dream of music and the monotone reality of threading needles.

In this society of needles and fabric, Emma’s dream is viewed as naive and childish. But truth is that childish naivety is often the lucky gift of daring to do things that, unfortunately, bound by society’s beliefs, we no longer dare to approach in later years.

With Saitenstich, I wanted to preserve an almost forgotten part of history while at the same time tell a universal story of believing in childhood dreams. A film which should empower us all to be courageous.

Key Team

Cast: Lona Böni, Pascal Ulli, Michèle Breu, Manuel Kühne, Norbert Böni, Philipp Langenegger, Michelle Graf
Writer/Director: Raphaela Wagner
Cinematography: Till Haener
Editing: Daniel Schär
Location Sound: Christian Peruzzetto
Sound Mix: Oswald Schwander, Guido Helbling, Dominik Di Rosa
Music: Michael James Turtle
Production Design: Esther Egli
Costumes: Anna-Barbara Friedli
Make up: Dunja Schwery