ECAL - STUDIES - MASTER - FILM STUDIES ECAL/HEAD

Master Film Studies

Developing a personal cinematographic vision, understanding the filmmaking process and apprehending the stakes of production so as to pave the way for graduates to smoothly join professional circles – such are the main objectives of this programme. This Master course, which is unique in Europe, is aimed at the holders of a Bachelor’s degree, or with equivalent experience, wishing to further their knowledge in one of the following fields: direction scriptwriting, editing, sound or production.

Through courses and workshops provided by renowned lecturers in each field, the students develop a personal project throughout the curriculum. For their master project, they are involved in the production (direction scriptwriting, editing, sound or production) of a short, medium or feature length film (fiction, documentary, TV series, art-house, transmedia…). Several films gain international visibility through renowned festivals or/and TV broadcasting.

This Master programme relies on a partnership between ECAL and HEAD/Geneva University of Art and Design and on collaborations with Lausanne University (UNIL), Zurich University (UZH), Zurich University of the Arts (ZHDK), the Swiss National Film Archive in Lausanne, Swiss National Broadcasting RTS, and la Manufacture (school of performing arts) in Lausanne, University of Music Lausanne and Swiss Literature Institute in Bienne.

Admission
Registration deadline, interview www.ecal.ch/en/admission

Term
4 semesters

Yearly fees (materials included)
CHF 2225.–

Credits
120 ECTS

Language
French and English

Qualification issued
Master of Arts HES-SO in Cinema, major in Direction, Scriptwriting, Editing, Sound or Production

Heads of Department
Lionel Baier (ECAL)

Nicolas Wadimoff (HEAD – Genève)

Coordinator
Jasmin Basic

Assistant
Alice Riva (HEAD)

Production and distribution
Jean-Guillaume Sonnier (ECAL)

Professors and Visiting Lecturers
Elsa Amiel
Claire Atherton
Séverine Barde
Nathalie Baye
Jean-Pierre Beauviala
Pierre Bismuth
Stéphane Bouquet
Louise Bourgouin
Serge Bozon
Guillaume Brac
Jean-Stéphane Bron
Robert Cantarella
Djinn Carrenard
Lolita Chammah
Michael Cimino
Donigan Cumming
Abdel Raouf Dafri
Thierry de Peretti
Dieter Fahrer
Philippe Faucon
Laetitia Fèvre
Emmanuel Finkiel
Jennifer Fox
Pauline Gaillard
Amos Gitaï
Delphine Gleize
Alain Gomis
Mahamat Saleh Haroun
Werner Herzog
Mike Hoolboom
Nicolas Humbert
Jean-Christophe Hym
Antoine Jaccoud
Simon Jaquemet
Tom Kalin
Anurag Kashyap
Alanté Kavaïté
Marthe Keller
Stéphane Kuthy
Rachel Lang
Joachim Lafosse
Laurent Larivière
Sébastien Lifshitz
Eric Loret
Noémie Lvovsky
Vincent Macaigne
Ursula Meier
Peter Mettler
Luc Moullet
Bettina Oberli
Ruben Östlund
François Ozon
Vasco Pimentel
Pedro Pinho
Aude Py
Katell Quillévéré
Philippe Ramos
Charlotte Rampling
Gianfranco Rosi
Sonia Rossier
Antoine Russbach
Emmanuel Salinger
Stefano Savona
Ulrich Seidl
Florence Seyvos
Eyal Sivan
Raphaël Sohier
Karine Sudan
Bela Tarr
Marianne Tardieu
Anne-Dominique Toussaint
Cécile Vargaftig
Teresa Villaverde

Masterclasses
Jean-Jacques Annaud
Darren Aronofsky
Suzanne Bier
Joel Coen
Claire Denis
Clemens Klopfenstein
Thierry Frémaux
Guillaume Gallienne
Jean-Luc Godard
Michel Hazanavicius
Werner Herzog
Agnès Jaoui
Barbet Schroeder
Léa Seydoux
Claire Simon
Jean-François Stévenin
Jeremy Thomas
Gus Van Sant
Thomas Vinterberg
Frederick Wiseman
Andrei Zviaguintsev

2020

Dialogue with Pauline

A project by Ensemble Vide

"I Dreamed of El Zahir"

Sound work recorded in Dakar, Senegal

Master Cinema at the Berlinale 2020

Shooting of the web-series "Bâtards"

Workshop casting and acting with Guillaume Brac

2019

Master cinéma - Production

On the set of "Bulle" by Anne Deluz, with the actress Claudia Cardinale ©Ghislaine Hegers

Cinema Master - major Sound

On the set of "Red Jungle" by Juan José Lozano and Zoltán Horváth ©Charlotte Muller

ECAL Cinema book 2019

An insight in the ECAL films and activities

Call for submission

Master Cinema 2020-22

Collaboration with Fondation Opale

7 short films made by the Master students

Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur 2019

School Day

NIFFF - Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival

Presentation at the Fantastic Web Contest 2019

Grand Voyage: Dakar

The students of the Master Cinema in Senegal during the Grand Voyage

Interview with Lionel Baier

Head of the ECAL Cinema Department

2018

ECAL book 2018

The invisible sanctuary

In Kyoto, the former imperial capital of Japan, Masayo Fujio and Nobuko Takahashi narrates the painful account of their life. Through their stories, mingled with that of the district, Suujin, the past of an invisible Japanese community that is still discriminated against today gradually surfaces again.

Diploma film sets

Heaven of the beasts

At night, the sky appears while the mysterious beast approaches. The astronomer and the hunter are pursuing the unknown.

Off Piste

In the snowy peaks of Jura, a young man who is smooth in every respect is confronted with his own cowardice.

We’ve not like spiders nets from grief’s saliv.

Suffering from insomnia, Nina, a young woman leaves Paris to return in Provence, in his hometown. Following the unexplained disappearance of his sister, stranges phenomena take place and seem to be addressed to her. One night, Nina sees something, an apparition that will lead her in her sister's footsteps.

Edge of the season

After the death of her father, Cloé and her mother go to their familial chalet on an isolated mountain to disperse his ashes. Between mourning and boredom, Cloé finds the courage to tell her mother that she does not want to see her anymore.

Sister Jarariju

In the middle of an austere landscape contaminated by a coal mine in northern Colombia, Viviana and Yandris, two teenage sisters of the Wayuu ethnic group, discover their traditions through ancestral rituals. At the death of their father and, in an act of audacity and courage, the sisters Jarariju leave their country.

Diploma film posters

Master Cinema at the Clermont Film Festival

Promotion du Master cinéma au Festival du court métrage de Clermont Ferrand

Master cinéma dans Le Temps

Article du 8 janvier 2018 dans Le Temps sur la place du scénario en Suisse

Table ronde lors des Journées cinématographiques de Soleure, 27 janvier 2018

Les jeunes scénaristes suisses sont-ils assez formés?

2016

Masterclass / Conference

Mumbai Grand Voyage workshop

3 weeks in Mumbai for a direction workshop lead by Anurag Kashyap

Diploma film posters

Diploma film sets

Albin

I lost my father at the age of two - too young to have kept any memories. For many years this loss haunted only my sub consciousness. Thirty years after his death, his grave was destroyed. I suddenly realize that I had never mourned my father and that I had to find out who he really was. Starting from the idea that memory is something you can question, work and modify, I decide to dive into Albin's universe to create my own memories.

Lost Exile

Emir, a family man, works for the local mafia as people smuggler between Serbia and Hungary. Hana, a young woman from Kosovo wants to flee her country and meets Emir to drive her. On the way, Emir's unscrupulous colleagues order him to stop at a motel next to the border. They see in Hana the opportunity to gain money by delivering her to a prostitution ring. That night, Emir is faced with a moral dilemma and his own humanity as Hana will test her courage to change her life and make it to Europe.

Ma Yan Chan - Waves of Transition

Since generations, the dockers and their families live and work at the Ayeyarwady riverbank in Mandalay, the ancient royal capital of Myanmar. In a time of great transition, their lifestyle is subdued to lasting transformations. Against their will, the authorities try to dislocate them into newly built concrete buildings.

2015

ImaginaSon

The ImaginaSon show is the result of a collaboration between the Swiss Cinémathèque, the students in Composing of the University of Music Lausanne (HEMU) and the students in Editing of the Ecal/Head Master in Film Studies.

Workshop Pasolini

The Master students of Mise en scène of the Lausanne University of Theatre and the film directors of Master Ecal/Head collaborated for a work shop around the critical and political impact of Pasolini’s work.

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) Mandate

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) asked the Master Ecal/Head for some short movies in order to enlighten the collaboration between Switzerland and Latvia. With their collaboration, the students developed some screenplays and then directed a series of short documentaries dealing with subjects like life in the Alp regions, Swiss countryside and multiculturalism. This workshop aimed to learn how to make a portrait.

2014

Workshop Great Trip in Sarajevo

Every 2 years, students are invited to take part in an ambitious work shop named « Great Trip » where they discover a land and a director. In 2014 they travelled to Sarajevo, to meet the Film Factory Students and it’s boss, the Hungarian director Bela Tarr.

Honey is sweeter than blood

18 year old Lucia is on edge. Her grandfather is seriously ill and she refuses to accept the fact that he’s dying. In an unsuccessful attempt to take her mind off it, she seeks comfort in the arms of Rabah, a local guy, with whom she has a tumultuous fling.

The Night of Songs

Created in the tradition of experimental cinema, The Night of Songs evokes at once the desperation with which we seek our origins and our intimate desire to reach toward the sky . A deported man is lost between these two worlds, these two hopes.

Muchachas

My grandmother’s death brought me back to Mexico City, where my eyes were opened as to on how unfair our relationship with the maids had been. To what extent was I also responsible for the invisibility of these women, who had always lived around me?

Cyclic

Shot in the bike messenger scene in Lausanne, « CYCLIC » tells the story of three messengers having issues fitting into society and growing up.

A Barça

The passage of time, of the river, of the clouds. Hundreds of people rush to board a boat that will take them to work. Behind them, the dormitory town: a space beyond time where landscape and identity are ardently shaped by the ambiguities of the world of work.

2013

Festival Indilisboa

Le Festival Indilisboa présente un programme spécial consacré au Master Cinéma ECAL/HEAD.

2012

Atelier réalisation/Cinéma du réel

Sous la direction du cinéaste Nicolas Wadimoff, les étudiants ont arpenté Genève à la rencontre de la population Rom. Chaque étudiant a écrit, tourné et monté un film.

Grand voyage à Lisbonne

Les étudiant-e-s de chaque volée de Master effectuent un « Grand voyage » à la découverte du territoire d’un-e cinéaste. En 2012, ils se sont rendus à Lisbonne avec la cinéaste Teresa Villaverde et l’ingénieur du son Vasco Pimentel.

Des yeux partout

Solitaire et un brin sauvage, Clarisse ne supporte pas d’être constamment observée par la vidéosurveillance.

Er/Ich

Un portrait en demi-teinte de Eric Hess, le président des jeunes UDC Suisses.

Nwa-Mankamana

En 1947, Marie Tinguely quitte la Suisse pour travailler dans un hôpital de brousse en Afrique du Sud. Après sa mort, ses films tournés pendant ses 25 années sur place sont retrouvés dans un appartement familial. Je décide de les explorer.

2011

O Signore Stracciarolo

A San Basilio, se retrouvent toutes sortes d’exclus. Gianfranco et Giò, un couple du peuple Sinti (Roms), nous ouvrent la porte de leur mobile-home…

Ponte 5

Dans le quartier de Laurentino 38, l'une des multiples banlieues de Rome, les gens luttent tous les jours pour leur survie. Le portrait d’un homme âgé face à cet environnement hostile.

Grand voyage à Rome

Chaque volée, les étudiants de Master effectuent un « Grand voyage » à la découverte du territoire d’un-e cinéaste. En 2011, ils se sont rendus avec Gianfranco Rosi le long du G.R.A., à la périphérie de Rome…

Ruth

Ruth mène une vie paisible dans son appartement minutieusement décoré. Jusqu’au jour, où un cadeau mystérieux est sur le point de chambouler son monde.

Cycle de conférences « Ecrire le cinéma »

Comment le cinéma est-il abordé, raconté, compris, critiqué, admiré et chahuté, quelles réflexions, méditations et rêveries inspire-t-il, quels plaisirs et déplaisirs nourrit-il ? Une rencontre avec des critiques et essayistes de renom.

Vrai/Semblable

Un atelier pratique qui permet aux étudiants d’acquérir des compétences liées à la direction d’acteurs, à la gestion d’une production et à la finalisation d’un film.

2010

Con la licencia de Dios

In an isolated village in the Mexican desert, Griselda lives with the wind, silence and suspended time. She looks at life with humanity and pragmatism. Her husband emigrated to the United States, and like other women in the village, the children and the old, Griselda lives in a state of waiting… The haunting presence of absence colours the portrait of this mother of a family, in her strength and fragility.

I cani abbaiano

Roberto et Felice sont les derniers habitants du village fantôme de Camarda, près de l’Aquila, en Italie.

La Chienne

Agnès, 15 ans, vit isolée à la montagne. Son petit ami lui propose de tout quitter...

Tape Amanda, tape !

Amanda s’entraîne quotidiennement dans un club de boxe. A travers ces moments de pause et de surpassement, elle se confronte à cet univers masculin et découvre un monde qui lui échappe.

2009

Backstage Roméo et Juliette

Une immersion dans les coulisses d’un ballet au Grand Théâtre de Genève, le temps d’une représentation. Un espace où évoluent danseurs, techniciens et musiciens, où se côtoient la tension, l’attente, l’excellence physique et le travail quotidien.

Copycat

Lors de cet atelier pratique, les étudiants ont exploré la scène d’ouverture du film « Psycho » d’Alfred Hitchcock, entièrement écrit, tourné et monté dans le cadre de l’école.

Cotonov Vanished

Cotonov Vanished revient sur la carrière fulgurante d’un jeune et brillant interprète russe embarqué dans la guerre froide qui, un jour, disparut mystérieusement.

Filmer la parole

Dans le cadre d’un atelier de réalisation sur le thème des « Topographies du réel », chaque étudiant réalise un film autour de la question de la parole, de la voix et du corps.

Il movimento

The “habitués” of the bar “Il Movimento” meet regularly to discuss, drink and to forget their worries. This tiny bar is particularly cosy with a warm and charming ambience. This documentary takes us through the changes of the atmosphere and the different reactions of the guests in this microcosmos, as one day, one of them – a young friend – dies unexpectedly of a heart attack.

2008

Vandalen

Sebastian and Johannes are graffiti artists and work together. But there is something else that connects them: they are in love. Nobody knows, though. This is the story of their daily struggle in a subculture that is all but gay-friendly.

Oltre la Sicilia (Au-delà de la Sicile)

A travers un voyage en Sicile, la réalisatrice espère renouer avec son père qui se refuse à évoquer ses origines. Peu à peu, un dialogue se tisse, les réponses surgissent, une complicité naît.

Les amoureux du Nil

Les amoureux du Nil pose une question fondamentale du cinéma du réel. Peut-on obliger les gens à être filmés ?

Comme une lettre à la Poste

Soupçonnant son professeur de lui voler ses idées pour un article, Franco, étudiant en histoire, découvre les pratiques sexuelles peu orthodoxes de son directeur de mémoire…

Renens, espace urbain

Dans le cadre de leur projet de semestre « Renens : espace urbain », les étudiant-e-s on parcouru la réalité culturelle et sociale de la Ville de Renens.

2007

Clash of Civilisation?

Six étudiantEs en première année de la formation Master HES-SO en option « documentaire » ont réalisé un film au Caire, autour du thème « Clash of Civilisation ? »

1994

1992

1979