Biography

Marianne Pletscher has studied languages in Zurich, political sciences at Harvard University in Cambridge USA and film at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles.

She has worked as a reporter and documentary filmmaker for Swiss Television in all parts of the world for many years and has won so far 10 national and international prices. She was always very interested in intercultural collaboration and produced several films directly or indirectly with SDC (Swiss Development cooperation). She also took NADEL advanced training courses in development cooperation at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, section social sciences in Zurich. She has also worked as a documentary teacher at Swiss Television and at various film- and media-schools in Switzerland. She is continuously teaching workshops at the International Film- and Television  school in Cuba ECTV) and recently also taught in Nepal.

Her work includes about 50 one-hour long documentaries, many shorter ones and docu-series as director and producer. Since July 2011 she works as an independent film maker and journalist. She has recently published various photo/text-books together with photographer Marc Bachmann, augmenting the list of her books to 7.

Topics: refugees, old age, dementia, housing, violence against women (see list of books)

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The films of Marianne Pletscher (selection)

Year	Title
2013	Loving someone with dementia    [SINN UND HOFFNUNG FINDEN im Umgang mit Demenzkranken]
2013	Der globale Zoo 3
2013	Sister Liliane Full of Care – A life for human dignity    [Leiden schafft Pflege]
2012	from Afrika to Altdorf, Switzerland – (documentary, project)    [Von Afrika nach Altdorf (Arbeitstitel)]
2012	Different Hats, same boat – Drama workhop for dementia patients and their partners    [Behütet ins gemeinsame Boot]
2011	Your Pain Is Also My Pain – When loved ones commit suicide    [Dein Schmerz ist auch mein Schmerz]
2010	Living happily with Dementia? – a film on dementia-patients and those who take care of them    [Glück im Vergessen? + Kurzfilm Glück hat viele Gesichter]
2009	In a Foreign Land – a center for asylum seekers and the village where it stands    [Schi Lunsch Naven]
2009	Jesus I am yours forever – My God, your God, no God (serial)    [Jesus i ha di megagärn]
2009	The global zoo – Wedding agencies for wild animals    [Der globale Zoo]
2008	Tell by Volker Hesse – a film essay    [Volker Hesse inszeniert Tell – ein Essai]
2007	The Tschanun massacre in Zürich – Why the head of the architecture department shot four of his employees    [Die Bluttat im Zürcher Bauamt]
2007	End of the World in the World Theatre – Einsiedeln plays the fool    [Weltuntergang im Welttheater]
2007	The Power That Comes From Pain – Portrait for the 60th birthday of Gypsi-writer Mariella Mehr    [Die Kraft aus Wut und Schmerz]
2006	Animals as Therapeuts – a rest home fort he elderly tries out new ways    [Tiere als Therapeuten]
2005	Lars Müller- Portrait of the designer – serial DesignSuisse    [Lars Müller Portrait]
2005	The Health Crisis – Does more medical care lead to more health?    [Die Gesundheitskrise]
2005	Sri Lanka one year after the Tsunami    [Sri Lanka ein Jahr nach dem Tsunami]
2005	Antonia lässt losthe last year in the life of a corageous woman
2004	A better way of dying – what is still posible when nothing is posible anymore    [Besser Sterben]
2003	Flucht aus Sri Lanka – 20 Jahre späterTwo brothers, two worlds
2002	A hard living – farming in the Alps and the Andes    [Scarnuz Peruan – Das harte Brot der Berge]
2001	Children of the future – How to learn languages in Switzerland    [Zukunftskinder]
2001	Animal Hospital (serial)    [Tierspital (Serie)]
2000	Dragica Rajčić– writer – Portrait of the writer    [Dragica Rajčić]
2000	Switzerland-Kosov@ Round Trip – of soldiers, returning refugees and Swiss cows    [Schweiz-Kosov@ retour]
2000	World Theatre-Crazy scenes in the Cloister village    [Welttheater - Wahnwitzige Szenen im Klosterdorf]
1999	Mariella Mehr, portrait of the writer    [Mariella Mehr – Schriftstellerinnenportrait (Serie LiteraTour de Suisse)]
1999	Children's Hospital (serial,producer and co-author)    [Kinderspital Serie]
1999	Portrait of the writer Thomas Hürlimann – (Serial LiteraTourdeSuisse)    [Thomas Hürlimann]
1999	The Long Way to the Light - die Bräute Jesu – behind the walls of the Müstair monastery    [Die Bräute Jesu (deutsch) / Seguir la glüm (romanisch)]
1998	Our Most Hated Citizens or Undesired and Unpolular – Kosovo-Albanians in Switzerland    [Unerwünscht und Unbeliebt]
1998	Voices from Inside the Labyrinth – Prison encounters of another kind    [Aus dem Innern des Labyrinths]
1997	Travelling With Fox And Cat – A Portrait of Paul Parin and Goldy Parin Matthey    [Mit Fuchs und Katz auf Reisen]
1997	Home to a Land Divided by Itself    [Heimkehr ins zerrissene Land – Bosnienrückkehrer]
1997	One Hears Well Only with the Heart – Portrait of Pater Silvio    [Man hört nur mit dem Herzen gut - Tedlar cul cor]
1996	Paradise Found – The second Life of Heidi K.    [Geteiltes Glück]
1995	three weeks in the can – Daily life in a high security prison    [Drei Wochen im Knast]
1995	Home or Hell    [Heimat oder Hölle – Chronik eines Quartiers im Umbruch]
1994	A Womans Place – A swiss farmer visits a Bhutan valley where women are said to have more power than men    [Das Tal der Frauen]
1994	Seniors in Love    [Lust auf Liebe im Alter]
1994	Der Wundercomputer
1993	Cuba Quasi Libre – Swiss women between dream and trauma    [Kuba quasi libre]
1993	Confronting Fear – A videoessay    [Der Angst begegnen]
1992	The Crazy Telephone – loving, living and loosing on the line    [Telefon 156]
1991	Black Dream of Paradise – Waiting for the new South Africa    [Schwarzer Traum vom Paradies]
1991	Homeless – a „patriotic“ film for Switzerlands anniversary    [Obdachlos]
1990	God has 25 Names – Swiss missionaries in Zimbabwe    [Gott hat 25 Namen]
1989	Namibia – Two Women, One Land, One History    [Namibia: zwei Frauen, ein Land, eine Geschichte]
1988	Leap Day – the terrible blood deed of Gunther Tschanun...    [Schalttag]
1986	Beyond the Open Road – Mariella Mehr - her life, her files and a theatre play    [Jenseits der Landstrasse]
1984	Escape from Paradise – tamils in Switzerland and in Sri Lanka    [Flucht aus dem Paradies]
1983	Supermarket of Sex    [Supermarkt der Sexualität]
1982	Once Raped, Twice Humiliated    [Einmal vergewaltigt, mehrfach gedemütigt]
1980	Here I have learnt that women can be humans too – a week in the house for battered women    [Hier habe ich gelernt, dass eine Frau auch ein Mensch sein kann]
1979	Returning Home to Southern Italy    [Heimkehr nach Süditalien – Migrationsgeschichten]