Alain Tanner

Alain Tanner (6 December 1929 – 11 September 2022) was a Swiss film director.
Early years and education
Tanner was born in Geneva, and studied economics at the University of Geneva. In 1951, he joined the film club which Claude Goretta had recently established at the university. After his graduation and a short time working for international shipping companies in London, he continued feeling drawn to film.
Film career
Tanner found work at the British Film Institute in 1955, subtitling, translating, and organizing the archive. His first film, Nice Time (1957), a short documentary film about Piccadilly Circus during weekend evenings, was made with Claude Goretta. Produced by the British Film Institute Experimental Film Fund, it was first shown as part of the third Free Cinema programme at the National Film Theatre in May 1957. The debut film won a prize at the film festival in Venice and much critical praise.
Tanner went to France for a while where he assisted with several commercial films. There, he met some of the most important directors of the French New Wave in Paris as well as Henri Langlois, the director of the Cinémathèque Française. But the atmosphere in the film circles of Paris displeased him; he described it as "cutthroat."
Between 1960 and 1968, Tanner returned to Switzerland, and he made more than 40 films as well as documentaries for French-language television there. In 1962, he became the co-founder of the Swiss young filmmakers' "Groupe Cinque."
His first feature film, Charles, Dead or Alive (1969), won the first prize at the international film festival in Locarno. His next two films, La Salamandre (1971) and Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 (1976), were made in close collaboration with the art critic and novelist John Berger, who had also worked with him, to a lesser degree and without a credit, on the writing of Charles.
Influenced by his involvement with the British Free Cinema movement in London and with the French New Wave during his years in Paris, Tanner is best known for his movies Jonas qui aura 25 ans en l'an 2000 (Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000), Messidor and Dans la ville blanche (In the White City). Dans la ville blanche, starring Bruno Ganz and shot in Lisbon, was entered into the 33rd Berlin International Film Festival.
Light Years Away, his only English language film shot in Ireland, won the Grand Prix Prize at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival.
Personal life and death
Tanner and his wife, Janine, had two children. He died at a hospital in Geneva on 11 September 2022, aged 92.
Filmography
Nice Time - 1957
Ramuz, passage d'un poète - 1961
L'École - 1962
The Apprentices (Les Apprentis) - 1964
A City at Chandigarh (Une ville à Chandigarh) - 1966
Docteur B., médecin de campagne - 1968
Charles, Dead or Alive (Charles mort ou vif) - 1969
The Salamander (La Salamandre) - 1971
Return from Africa (Le Retour d'Afrique) - 1972
The Middle of the World (Le Milieu du monde) - 1974
Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 (Jonas qui aura 25 ans en l'an 2000) - 1976
Messidor - 1979
Light Years Away (Les Années lumière) - 1981
In the White City (Dans la ville blanche) - 1983
No Man's Land - 1985
A Flame in My Heart (Une flamme dans mon cœur) - 1987
La Vallée fantôme - 1987
The Woman from Rose Hill (La Femme de Rose Hill) - 1989
The Man Who Lost His Shadow (L'Homme qui a perdu son ombre) - 1991
The Diary of Lady M (Le journal de Lady M) - 1993
Men of the Port (Les Hommes du port) - 1995
Fourbi - 1996
Requiem - 1998
Jonah and Lila, Till Tomorrow (Jonas et Lila, à demain) - 1999
Fleurs de sang - 2002
Paul s'en va - 2004
References
External links
Alain Tanner at the Swiss Film Directory
1929 births
2022 deaths
Film people from Geneva
French-language film directors
Swiss expatriates in England
Swiss expatriates in France
Swiss-French people
Swiss film directors
University of Geneva alumni