STRANGER IN A VILLAGE

By Samir .

DSCHOINT VENTSCHR FILMPRODUKTION - as PROD

Art - Culture - Production 2023

In 1951 the black US writer James Baldwin met the locals of Leukerbad. Out of this confrontation he writes: "Stranger in a Village". Inspired by this text, the film tells a semi-fictional story about racism in the mountain village and beyond.

    • Year of production
    • 2023
    • Genres
    • Art - Culture, Social issues
    • Countries
    • SWITZERLAND
    • Director(s)
    • Samir .
    • Writer(s)
    • Samir -
    • Producer(s)
    • Karin KOCH (DSCHOINT VENTSCHR FILMPRODUKTION)
    • Synopsis
    • In the early 1950s, an American writer comes to Leukerbad with his Swiss lover. In his friend‘s chalet, the Stranger writes his first novel. He is the first black person the villagers have ever seen. Their curiosity is great and the Stranger befriends many of them: they all want to know what brings the mysterious dark man from America to the mountains. But their prejudice is deeply rooted and the locals‘ initial curiosity increasingly turns into rejection. The racism of the simple mountain people becomes blatant when they find out that the two men are having an affair.
      The film tells a semi-fictional story based on „Stranger in the Village“, the eponymous essay by James Baldwin.