sooner or later, a new film by Jürg Neuenschwander (The Power of Healing, Encounters on the Milky Way), dwells patiently on dying and grieving; on parents with their son, who died a few hours after his birth; on an old man getting married shortly before his death; on a teenager losing his body and finally his life; on a young man rebelling against his death; on family members awakening from their numbness, laughing and crying; on a gardener in the cemetery carefully arranging flowers; on the small peephole through which one can see the furnace in the crematorium; on the tomb, where the grave-diggers shovel dirt on the coffin.

sooner or later captures ordinary acts, which in the face of death become a ritual, and gives space to the subtle, nearly invisible gestures and movements, which make the suffering and insecurities more bearable: Caressing a cat, a handshake or a fleeting glance; pictures and moments in death and grief, which we avoid in every day life, feeling insecure, fearful or ashamed.

sooner or later does not deal with hope for eternal life, but with the search for the nearly invisible stops on the way to death and through the grieving process. It is not about escaping, but about watching and examining one‘s own mortality.

sooner or later tells about the universality of the only certitude in human life. Whether in the Emmental or in Tibet, whether at home or in a hospital, the final farewell to persons and to life is a difficult and painful experience everywhere. But there is no escape from one‘s own transience anywhere.

Nominated for the IDA PARE LORENTZ AWARD 2003.

90 minutes, 35mm, color, English subtitles,
Switzerland, Tibet, 2003

Directed by
Jürg Neuenschwander

Director of Photography
Philippe Cordey

Sound Engineer
Ingrid Städeli

Film Editor
Regina Bärtschi

Music composed by
David Gattiker

Sound Design
Peter von Siebenthal

Consultants
Loten Dahortsang, Adrian Linder, Manuel Schüpfer, Anna Fanzun, Nicolas Broccard

Executive Producer
Theres Scherer-Kollbrunner

Production
Container TV AG, PO Box, Zinggstrasse 16, CH-3000 Bern 23
CARAC Film AG, Zinggstrasse 16, CH-3007 Bern


Distribution
Filmcoopi Zürich AG, PO Box, Heinrichstr. 114, CH-8031 Zürich

Co-Producers
SF DRS, ARTE Switzerland, ARTE G.E.I.E., TELECLUB AG

Contributions
Federal Office for Cultural Affairs (EDI), Switzerland, Office for Cultural Affairs of the Canton of Bern, Cultural City Bern, Culture Funds from SUISSIMAGE, Reformed Churches Bern-Jura, Foundation Nicati-de Luze