Tim Fehlbaum, the Swiss director behind the Munich massacre thriller "September 5," is developing a new historical film set in Berlin. The project joins a growing wave of Swiss productions that embrace English-language storytelling as a gateway to international audiences and higher production budgets.
Fehlbaum's untitled Berlin project arrives as Swiss cinema experiences a strategic shift toward English-language filmmaking. Peers like Petra Volpe ("Frank & Louis," which won at Locarno), Damien Hauser ("Memory of Princess Mumbi"), and Denis Rabaglia ("Butterfly Stroke") have all pursued English-language or English-heavy narratives in recent years. This trend reflects both artistic ambition and commercial pragmatism within the Swiss film industry.
The turn toward English represents a calculated move by Swiss filmmakers to compete on the global stage. Switzerland's smaller domestic market, combined with production costs and talent pools, makes English-language productions more attractive to international financiers and distributors. When Swiss directors work in English, they tap broader financing mechanisms, from European co-production funds to streaming platforms hungry for content with crossover potential.
"September 5," Fehlbaum's 2024 Olympic Games thriller starring Peter Sarsgaard and Gabriel Ebert, demonstrated the commercial and critical viability of this approach. The film dramatized the 1972 Munich hostage crisis through the lens of American broadcast journalists. Its release by A24, a distributor known for prestige indie fare, signaled that Swiss filmmakers could reach art-house and mainstream audiences simultaneously by telling international stories in English.
Fehlbaum's Berlin project follows this formula but signals deeper creative ambition. A historical film set in Germany's capital, particularly from a Swiss perspective, invites exploration of geopolitical complexity, cultural memory, and European identity. Berlin itself functions as a character in contemporary European cinema, from Tom Tykwer's work to international co-productions. Fehlbaum's choice of setting suggests he aims beyond the festival circuit toward sustained international recognition.
The broader context matters here. Swiss cinema historically punched above its weight through auteurs like Michael Haneke and Yorgos Lanthimos (who later became international figures), but their work remained rooted in Swiss aesthetics and occasional French or German language elements. The current generation takes a different approach. They study storytelling mechanics that travel globally, collaborate with international crews, and view English as a tool rather than a compromise.
Volpe's "Frank & Louis," a multilingual romance that premiered at Locarno, exemplified this hybrid approach. Hauser and Rabaglia followed with festival-caliber work that balanced local sensibility with international ambition. These films accessed European prestige mechanisms, including co-production arrangements with French, Italian, and German partners, while positioning themselves for English-speaking distribution.
For Fehlbaum specifically, the Berlin project represents a natural extension of his trajectory. "September 5" established him as capable of managing high-stakes historical material with international casts and production designs. A Berlin-set historical film gives him room to deepen that skill set while maintaining the geopolitical and human complexity that made his Olympic Games drama resonate.
The challenge ahead remains consistent: Swiss filmmakers must balance commercial accessibility with distinctive creative vision. English fluency opens doors, but it also requires maintaining the narrative sophistication and formal precision that distinguish Swiss cinema from merely English-language production. Fehlbaum's next project will test whether this generation sustains that balance.