One Long Winter Without Fire (French: Tout un hiver sans feu) is a 2004 Swiss-Polish drama film directed by Greg Zgliński and written by Pierre-Pascal Rossi. Set in the Swiss Jura, it won awards including two at the 2004 Venice Film Festival and the 2005 Swiss Film Award for Best Fiction Film. It was also selected as Switzerland’s submission for the 78th Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category.[1][2]
| One Long Winter Without Fire | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Greg Zgliński |
| Written by | Pierre-Pascal Rossi |
| Produced by | Gérard Ruey Jean-Louis Porchet |
| Starring | Aurélien Recoing |
| Cinematography | Witold Plociennik |
| Edited by | Urszula Lesiak |
| Music by | Jacek Grudzien Mariusz Ziemba |
Release date |
|
Running time | 91 minutes |
| Countries | Switzerland Poland |
| Language | French |
Synopsis
editJean and Laure, who live in the Swiss Jura, are grieving after their daughter dies in a barn fire. After Laure enters a clinic, Jean takes a job at a foundry, where he meets Labinota, a Kosovar asylum seeker whose husband disappeared during the Serbian offensive. As Jean slowly begins to recover, Labinota learns that her husband has been identified in a mass grave in Kosovo, while Laure, after processing her grief, seeks Jean’s company again.[1]
Cast
editThe cast includes:[3]
- Aurélien Recoing as Jean
- Marie Matheron as Laure
- Gabriela Muskala as Labinota
- Blerim Gjoci as Kastriot
- Nathalie Boulin as Valérie
Reception
editAwards and nominations
editThe film's awards included the Grand Prix SIGNIS and the CinemAvvenire Award for Best Feature Film at the 2004 Venice Film Festival. In 2005, it won the Swiss Film Award for Best Fiction Film at Solothurn and the Prix du public de la Ville de Namur at the Festival international du film francophone de Namur.[1]
The film was selected as Switzerland’s submission for the 78th Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category, but it was not nominated.[2][4]
Critical response
editFilmdienst called the film austere and moving, and wrote that it tells its story with restraint while conveying both the suffering and hope of its protagonists.[3] Variety called the film a “promising if cautious feature debut”, praised Aurélien Recoing’s performance, and described Witold Płociennik’s cinematography as “aces”.[5]
Festival screenings
editThe film's festival screenings included the 61st Venice International Film Festival in 2004, followed by the 58th Locarno Film Festival, the 40th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the 49th San Francisco International Film Festival, and the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2005.[1]
Legacy
editSee also
editReferences
edit- 1 2 3 4 "Tout un hiver sans feu". Swiss Films (in German). Retrieved 6 April 2026.
- 1 2 "« Tout un hiver sans feu » inscrit au concours des Oscars". Swiss Films (in French). 22 September 2005. Retrieved 6 April 2026.
- 1 2 "Kein Feuer im Winter". Filmdienst (in German). Retrieved 6 April 2026.
- ↑ "The 78th Academy Awards | 2006". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 5 March 2006. Retrieved 6 April 2026.
- ↑ "One Long Winter Without Fire". Variety. 27 September 2004. Retrieved 6 April 2026.
- ↑ "Poor, cold and rebellious: the Swiss Jura shows its rich imagination in films". SWI swissinfo. 21 February 2025. Retrieved 6 April 2026.