
Ethel
DIRECTOR:
Beatrice Jäggi
FILM TYPE:
Short
SYNOPSIS
Ethel discovers boxes of glittering clothes belonging to her late mother who was a figure skater. Wanting to relive those memories, she searches for the idyllic pond in the snowy forest where her mother once taught her to skate. But on the frozen pond, Ethel encounters the Bone Ice Princess, who challenges her to a dangerous dance on thin ice. Will Ethel survive? A tale of letting go and growing up.
DIRECTOR BIO
Born in 1966 and growing up in Winterthur (ZH). Apprenticeship in engineering drafting. 1996 intensive film workshop at New York University. Since 1998 organizer of various cultural projects in the field of film and video. Author and director of various short animation and experimental films. 2006-2009 MAS in Cultural Management at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts HSLU.
DIRECTOR STATEMENT
"ETHEL" is a coming-of-age story of a little girl that embarks on a journey which leads her to a dangerous dance on thin ice, with her late mother as the dark antagonist. In the end, Ethel can save herself only by her own strength.
Like many young girls, I was dreaming of becoming a figure skater in a sparkling costume and my hair in a bun. But my mother never showed intentions to support my dreams. Today I understand that figure skating is one of the toughest sports of all. A fact that was recently confirmed by the doping scandal involving a young Russian figure skater at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
I was fascinated by the idea to express the tension between the easy elegance and the hardness of this sport, combining puppet animation with the rotoscope method, and at the same time, to tell a story that conveys a universally understandable message: Borderline experiences pave our way to adulthood.
Year:
2023
Runtime:
8:00
Language:
Country:
Switzerland
Premiere:
Pennsylvania
Director:
Beatrice Jäggi
Executive Producer:
Producer:
Lina Geissmann
Writer:
Beatrice Jäggi, Lina Geissmann
Cinematographer:
Editor:
Cast:
