SWISS
SCIENCE FILM ACADEMY
Program 2026
Full-length Films
Zurich (Filmpodium Cinema)
Friday 23 October, 15:30
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TO THE MOON AND BACK
GENRE: Documentary
COUNTRIES: Switzerland, Philippines, France, Qatar
YEAR: 2026
LENGTH: 84 min
LANGUAGES: English, Cebuano, Moroccan, Spanish & French
SUBTITLES: English & German
ELISA GÓMEZ ALVA (Director & Writer)​​
An interdisciplinary filmmaker, she has developed a practice at the intersection of documentary, theatre and socio-cultural projects. In 2017 she graduated from the Berlin University of the Arts. In 2020 she completed a Master in film directing from ECAL/HEAD (École Cantonale d'Art de Lausanne). She collaborates with several major European theatre institutions. Her films have been selected for international festivals such as Visions du Réel, the Zurich Film Festival and the Geneva International Film Festival, and have been streamed on Tënk and Play Suisse. Since 2025, she has been working with Ciné-Doc Suisse.
PODIUM DISCUSSION
Zurich
Film Director & Writer: Elisa Gómez Alva
Moderator: TBA
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STORY
To the Moon and Back follows Ilyasse from Morocco, and Pauline from the Philippines, two Gen Z scientists shaped by a personal history of uprooting, chasing the dream of becoming an astronaut.
As their journeys unfold, Ilyasse and Pauline find themselves torn between their ideals of inclusion and sustainability and the fiercely competitive world of contemporary space exploration. The film exposes how the new space race reproduces old hierarchies of gender, geography and access, all against the backdrop of an uncertain future on Earth.
Set between reality and dream, between grounded struggles and whimsical moon mission simulations, To the Moon and Back becomes a true exploration of what it means to belong — and whether space exploration is a way forward or a way to escape.
Zurich (Filmpodium Cinema)
Friday 23 October, 19:30
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NUISANCE BEAR
GENRE: Documentary
COUNTRIES: UK, USA, Canada
YEAR: 2026
LENGTH: 86 min
LANGUAGES: English & Inuktitut
SUBTITLES: English & German
JACK WEISMAN (Director & Writer)​​
is an Emmy-winning filmmaker and co-founder of Documist whose documentaries have premiered at major festivals including Sundance, TIFF, SXSW, and IDFA. His acclaimed short Nuisance Bear was shortlisted for an Academy Award.
GABRIELA OSIO VANDENS (Director & Writer)​​
is an award-winning Venezuelan-Canadian director and cinematographer whose work has screened at leading international festivals including TIFF, SXSW, IDFA, and Camerimage. Her short Nuisance Bear was Academy Award shortlisted and won multiple major awards, including a Critics Choice Award and Cinema Eye Honors.
PODIUM DISCUSSION
Zurich
Film Director & Writer: Jack Weisman (online)
Moderator: TBA
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STORY
A polar bear is forced to navigate a human world of tourists, wildlife officers, and hunters as its ancient migration collides with modern life. When a sacred predator is branded a nuisance, it becomes unclear who truly belongs in this shared landscape.
Filmmakers Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman return to Churchill, Manitoba — affectionately known as the “Polar Bear Capital of the World” — to deepen the inquiry begun in their award-winning short film. The result is a striking portrait of the fraught coexistence between polar bears and humans, guided by an Inuit narrator whose insights resist simplification.
The film traces this relationship with nuance, revealing how these arctic creatures deal with being constantly monitored, photographed, and redirected. There is a thrill in watching a polar bear outwit human efforts to contain it, underscoring the bears’ resilience and the fragility of the systems that attempt to control them.
By challenging the conventions of a nature documentary and favoring confrontation over moralism, Nuisance Bear invites us to reconsider our assumptions about wildlife as spectacle.
Basel (Stadtkino Cinema)
Saturday 24 October, 17:45
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CONSCIOUS
GENRE: Documentary
COUNTRIES: UK
YEAR: 2026
LENGTH: 81 min
LANGUAGES: English
SUBTITLES: English
SUKI CHAN (Director & Writer)​​
is a British artist, film director and founder of Conscious Productions. Her films take audiences on an immersive journey and shine a light on subjects that challenge and destabilise our understanding of reality. Chan seeks out narratives that explore alternative ways of looking at the world.
Her passion is to change perception and build empathy for other people’s experiences.
Suki is a recipient of the 2020 Film London's FLAMIN Productions Award, a major award supported by Arts Council England.
Chan is a member of BAFTA Connect and Women In Film & TV (WFTV).
PODIUM DISCUSSION
Basel
Film Director & Writer: Suki Chan
Moderator: Kiana Rezakhanlou (PhD Student, University of Basel)
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STORY
A beautiful and haunting exploration of what happens when consciousness and memory begin to disintegrate. Conscious narrates the stories of Wendy Mitchell, Pegeen O’Sullivan, and Maureen Winfield who navigate dementia in transformative ways. Mirroring their journeys is the work of neuroscientist Anil Seth who has dedicated his career to studying consciousness, and finds his professional and personal life intersect as science becomes personal. With striking visuals and a rich, textured soundscape, Conscious invites audiences inside these altered landscapes of awareness, asking: what remains of us when our internal landscape fragments?