Wednesday 16 September, 17:30

Warm UP of the festival ANIMATOU

Free

ANIMATOU’s warm-up announces the festival’s 21st edition with an evening that blends program unveiling and live music. The event previews a selection of short and feature films, workshops, masterclasses and meetings planned for 1 to 10 October, inviting both young and adult audiences. Expect a lively, textured atmosphere where archival glimpses and animated rhythms meet — a convivial prelude that frames the festival’s themes of discovery, craft and cross-generational dialogue through playful rhythms and intimate cinematic moments.

Place de l'Ile 1,
Switzerland

Photo Credit: Thomas Perrodin/ Animatou

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Photo Credit: Thomas Perrodin/ Animatou

7 September – 6 October

Patricia Plattner Retrospective

Independent Cinema

Carouge

An intimate retrospective devoted to director Patricia Plattner, presenting a selection of her films alongside a reading-performance and a small exhibition. Plattner’s cinema favors close human encounters and observational compositions, blending subtle humour with poignant emotional truth. The programme highlights her attentive direction and narrative economy, tracing recurring themes of identity, everyday intimacy and the passage of time. Screenings offer a chance to rediscover the quiet intensity and warm, lyrical realism of her work. An event presented by the association Le Bazar de la Sirène in collaboration with Luna Films and the City of Carouge.

On the program:
– Special screenings at Cinéma Bio
– An inaugural staged reading on September 5, at the Théâtre des Amis
– An exhibition, Le Petit Bazar de Patricia, at Place du Temple

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3 September – 10 October

Double Extraction de Nibards

Independent Cinema

Halle Nord

Ciel Sourdeau’s eight-minute, seventeen-second video unfolds as a subversive tutorial: part gore, part experimental film, it repurposes pedagogical forms into an improvised, transgressive bricolage. Mixed by Adrien Kessler, the piece layers tactile sound and rough-edged visuals to probe bodies, identity and the limits of instruction. Its stripped, confrontational aesthetic alternates shock and dark humour, inviting a re-examination of learning rituals and the politics of representation through intimate, unsettling imagery.

Opening: 3 September, 18:00

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14 September – 7 December

Once upon a time… Ciné-club

Independent Cinema

Les Cinémas du Grütli

Founded in Geneva in 1951 by cinema enthusiasts including Alain Tanner and Claude Goretta, the Ciné-club universitaire de Genève (CCU) has spent 75 years bringing audiences together around singular films and shared discoveries.

To celebrate its 75th anniversary, the CCU looks back across more than seven decades of cinema with a programme of 30 films spanning continents, genres, generations and perspectives — while looking towards the future of the seventh art.

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Tuesday 15 September, 18:00

Avant Première: Freedom – Le Destin de Shewit

Independent Cinema

Cinéma Bio

Filmed over ten years, Freedom – Le Destin de Shewit is an intimate documentary that follows Shewit’s perilous journey from Eritrea to Switzerland. After surviving human trafficking in Libya and arriving as a teenage refugee, she faces years of legal uncertainty while pursuing autonomy. The film observes her daily struggles and quiet determination with a patient, observational camera, exploring themes of migration, resilience and the quest for personal liberty. In French.

In the presence of the film team and in collaboration with Hospice Général.

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Tuesday 15 September, 18:15

Special Screening: La vie d’une femme

Independent Cinema

Cinéma Nord-Sud

Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet observes a life of ordered precision in this intimate drama about work, care and the unforeseen. Gabrielle, a 55-year-old surgeon and department head, navigates a demanding professional existence that leaves little space for personal life. When a novelist arrives to research a book, her carefully calibrated balance begins to shift. The film explores responsibility, desire and the quiet cost of devotion through restrained compositions, close textures and a contemplative emotional rhythm that lingers beyond the frame.

In presence of director Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet and actress Léa Drucker.

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Tuesday 16 September, 20:30

Outdoor Screening: Sound of Metal

Independent Cinema

Terrasse du Vroom

Directed by Darius Marder, Sound of Metal follows a drummer confronting imminent hearing loss and the upheaval it brings to his identity and relationships. Shot with intimate close-ups and an immersive sound design, the film favours sensory experience over exposition, placing viewers inside the protagonist’s perception. At once raw and tender, it explores grief, adaptation and the fragile edges of communication, offering a quiet, visceral meditation on silence, resilience and the costs of change.

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Warm UP of the festival ANIMATOU