Over a period of more than 15 years, Swiss director Thomas Imbach filmed with a 35mm camera from the window of his Zurich studio. Accompanied by authentic answering machine messages from 1988 to 2003, a cinematic portrait of the invisible man behind the camera emerges. The combination of image and sound forms a fictional autobiography that addresses personal experiences such as birth, death, separation, and new beginnings, while at the same time painting a universal landscape of the soul. The film premiered in 2011 at the Berlinale Forum. It was subsequently shown at international festivals such as the Planete+ Doc Film Festival in Warsaw, the Jerusalem Film Festival, the Melbourne International Film Festival, the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival, and the Chicago International Film Festival. “Day Is Done” was awarded the Zurich Film Prize in 2011 and received the Swiss Film Prize ‘Quartz’ for best film music. The film also received an ‘Honorable Mention’ from the Millennium Award Jury at the Planete+ Doc Festival. Critics praised the poetic and humorous portrayal of the selfish artist who tries to play an indifferent God but proves all too human. The images were described as hauntingly beautiful yet unconventional. Over the course of nearly two hours, the film develops a powerful, evocative pull and has been called a magnificent montage that forms an overall picture out of the banalities of everyday life.
A 35mm camera films from a window, with messages from the answering machine in the background. Slowly an imaginary biography unfolds.
Over a period of more than 15 years, Swiss director Thomas Imbach filmed with a 35mm camera from the window of his Zurich studio. Accompanied by authentic answering machine messages from 1988 to 2003, a cinematic portrait of the invisible man behind the camera emerges. The combination of image and sound forms a fictional autobiography that addresses personal experiences such as birth, death, separation, and new beginnings, while at the same time painting a universal landscape of the soul.
The film premiered in 2011 at the Berlinale Forum. It was subsequently shown at international festivals such as the Planete+ Doc Film Festival in Warsaw, the Jerusalem Film Festival, the Melbourne International Film Festival, the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival, and the Chicago International Film Festival. “Day Is Done” was awarded the Zurich Film Prize in 2011 and received the Swiss Film Prize ‘Quartz’ for best film music. The film also received an ‘Honorable Mention’ from the Millennium Award Jury at the Planete+ Doc Festival.
Critics praised the poetic and humorous portrayal of the selfish artist who tries to play an indifferent God but proves all too human. The images were described as hauntingly beautiful yet unconventional. Over the course of nearly two hours, the film develops a powerful, evocative pull and has been called a magnificent montage that forms an overall picture out of the banalities of everyday life.