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WELCOME TO SWITZERLAND

WILLKOMMEN IN DER SCHWEIZ

By Sabine GISIGER

Documentary - Completed 2017

The wealthy village of Oberwil-Lieli refuses to take in any refugees. Can Switzerland no longer afford its humanitarian tradition?

Locarno 2017

- Year of production
- 2017
- Genres
- Documentary
- Countries
- SWITZERLAND
- Languages
- GERMAN, ENGLISH
- Duration
- 83 mn
- Director(s)
- Sabine GISIGER
- Writer(s)
- Sabine GISIGER
- Producer(s)
- Karin KOCH (DSCHOINT VENTSCHR FILMPRODUKTION)
- Synopsis
- In the summer of 2015, one million refugees seek sanctuary in Europe. 40,000 manage to reach Switzerland and 10 are allocated to Oberwil-Lieli, the wealthiest municipality in the Canton of Aargau. But Andreas Glarner, mayor and representative of the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, intends to set an example and refuses to take in any refugees in his village. Johanna Gündel, student and daughter of a local vegetable farmer, fights this policy together with like-minded villagers. Meanwhile, mayor Glarner quickly ascends to the National Council and is promoted to become Head of Migration of his party. The Green Aargau Councillor Susanne Hochuli, who is responsible for the housing of asylum seekers, is worried that fear and ideology prevent us from finding wise solutions.
  
  Based on the events in Oberwil-Lieli, «Welcome to Switzerland» tells the story of Switzerland in times of the so-called refugee crisis, showing what this country in the middle of Europe was, wants to be or could become.