A PIECE OF SKY

A PIECE OF SKY

DRII WINTER

Directed by Michael Koch
Switzerland, Germany | 137 min | 2022 | Drama | Swiss German

In a remote mountain village, the still young love of Anna and Marco is put to serve a test. As a result of the brain tumor, Marco increasingly loses his impulse control. In the tense relationship between the village community and the effects of Marco’s illness, Anne tries to preserve a love that in the end outshines even death.

Credits

Director: Michael Koch

Cinematography: Armin Dierolf

Film Editing: Florian Riegel
Music: Jannik Giger, Tobias Koch
Production Design: Sara Giancane
Costume Design: Sara Giancane

Cast: Michele Brand, Simon Wisler

Production Company: hugofilm features GmbH, Zurich/ Pandora Film Produktion, Cologne/ SRF / SRG SSR / ARTE

Swiss Producers: Christof Neracher

  • Michael Koch
    Michael Koch

Festivals & Awards

  • Berlinale 2022 Competition – Jury Special Mention
  • New Horizons 2022 – Competition
  • Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2022
  • Locarno Film Festival
  • Motovun Film Festival – Competition
  • Guanajuato International Film Festival – International Feature Film Fictionil
  • Hong Kong Film Festival –  Young Cinema Competition

press quotes

A Piece of Sky is both beautifully made and a thing of beauty in itself.”

A Piece of Sky is so much more than tragedy; it is essentially a glorious love story between a man and a woman, between a community that is both supportive and meddlesome and, perhaps most importantly, between these rooted people and the world where they live and work. “

“As a director, Koch is fearless. A Piece Of Sky plays out as an inexorable tragedy, keeping its own stately rhythm”

“There is not a second of schmaltz here. We see beauty, but it is never romanticized.”

Deadline

“A stark, affecting, sometimes enigmatic, superbly executed piece.”

“Koch underplays to sharp, teasing effect.”

“It’s the kind of film that gives us presences rather than performances in any demonstrative sense”

“DoP Armin Dierolf provides beautifully composed, crystalline images of the landscape, and the odd virtuoso moment”

“You might say the film is metaphysical, rather than religious – definitely a musing on life, death and our place in the universe.”

“(The film plays) between the registers of nature and culture, tradition and modernity, the intimate and the universal, the worldly and the metaphysical”

Screendaily

“In his second feature, director Michael Koch finds innovate images with which to tell his story.”

Drii Winter has something important to say”

The Upcoming

Michael Koch

Born in Lucerne (Switzerland) in 1982. From 2003–2008 he studied at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. His short films have been shown at over 100 international film festivals and won several awards. His graduation film Polar received a Special Mention at Berlinale 2009 and won the German Camera Award as well as the German Short Film Award. His debut feature film Marija had its world premiere in Competition at the International Filmfestival Locarno 2016. The film was internationally screened at several festivals such as Toronto, Busan, Angers and Gothenburg, winning numerous national and international prizes. A Piece of Sky is his second feature film.

FILMOGRAPHY
2022 A Piece Of Sky (feature)
2016 Marija (feature)
2009 Polar (short)
2006 Beckenrand (short)
2005 We Are The Faithful (short)