Ella Maillart – Double Journey
Antonio Bigini, Mariann Lewinsky
»21 July. On some days that we spend in the desert, in the heat, we wonder how we could possibly have left beautiful Switzerland. We talk about the impossibility of living a life of compromise, or about being forced to accept the destiny chosen for us as women. We talked about developing, being assertive, loving someone, dedicating ourselves to a cause.«
– Ella Maillart
It’s the summer of 1939 and the Swiss writer Ella Maillart travels to Asia with her friend Annemarie Schwarzenbach. Ella wants to make a film and help Annemarie kick her drug habit. In Kabul, she realises she has to find a completely new direction in her life. She travels alone through British India as war rages in Europe. Maillart’s letters and diary entries tell the story of this journey.
Lewinsky and Bigini use newly restored 16mm and 35mm footage that documents Maillart’s experiences travelling in Iran, Afghanistan, India and Nepal. Via the clear vision of its heroine, the film explores regions that today we know as war zones. Based on female adventurer Maillart’s own letters, diary entries and photographs, the film is a unique cinematic record of a legendary journey.
Antonio Bigini
Die Filme des Autors und Filmemachers Bigini liefen in internationalen Wettbewerben von Festivals wie Visions du Réel, Doclisboa, Torino Film Festival und Festa del Cinema di Roma. Für die Cineteca di Bologna kuratierte er die bislang bedeutendste Ausstellung über Pier Paolo Pasolini.
Filme von Antonio Bigini
Formato ridotto 2012
Mariann Lewinsky
Die Filmhistorikerin und Autorin Lewinsky kuratiert Filmprogramme und Retrospektiven von Regisseurinnen, Drehbuchautorinnen und Schauspielerinnen. Sie hat u. a. die Filme von Ella Maillart, Renée Schwarzenbach-Wille und Willy Leuzinger restauriert und macht auch DVD-Editionen. Lewinsky lebt und arbeitet in Zürich.
