Parlaci dell’opera che presenti al Napoli Film Festival:
Each script by a screenwriter and director in some way probably plays with the idea of having to do a film with your own family history. For me, family is a universal subject and I think that in every family – no matter how trivial its history may seem at first sight – we can find all the significant issues that adorn the human condition. My first notes for Rosie are dated 1995. I recalled stories about my mother at the time when the Hungarian director Bela Tarr absolutely thought that I should make a film about her. Twelve years later, when the opportunity arrived to work with Cobrafilm AG in Zurich, I had the courage to go ahead with it. Of the three projects on the table, the producer Susann Rüdlinger chose Rosie and along with my co-author Rudolf Nadler we developed the version that is now in the film. My hometown Altstätten in Eastern Switzerland, a small family with two children, a son and a daughter, the father who died prematurely and who was a professional boxer, the speculation about his homosexuality, the mother's isolation - all this autobiographical material provides the context for the narrative of the film. But within the context I was very free, given that it was my intention to give a true account of the family history. It was only with the character of Rosie that I tried to give the maximum of authenticity. Of course Sybille Brunner, the actress playing the main female character, brings her own personality and touch to the role. But in the script the character is as close as possible to the image of my mother. She died ten years ago. The film is a tribute to her.
