Born in Geneva in 1929 and dying there in 2022, Alain Tanner studied economics, worked at the British Film Institute, and made the short Nice Time with Claude Goretta in 1957. In 1962 he co-founded the Swiss Groupe Cinq. His first feature Charles, Dead or Alive (1969) won the first prize at Locarno. With the writer John Berger he made The Salamander (1971) and Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 (1976), the key films of Swiss new cinema. Light Years Away (1981) won the Grand Prix at Cannes.
Filmography
- Charles, Dead or Alive (1969)
- The Salamander (1971)
- Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 (1976)
- Messidor (1979)
- Light Years Away (1981)
- In the White City (1983)