INFO
BEAST - SOUL OF YOUTH
100min · Color 4:3 DCI · SWITZERLAND 2021· Swiss-German/French
Young father Gabriel takes care alone of his son.
When he falls in love with enigmatic Corey, a state of emergency is declared -
wild animals are on the run and life becomes utterly existential.
Starring
Ella Rumpf · Pablo Caprez
and Art Bllaca · Luna Wedler · Tonatiuh Radzi · Lolita Chammah
Written and Directed by
Lorenz Merz
Producer
Simon Hesse
Awards
IWC Filmmaker Award 2018 (Post-Production support)
Date of completion
December 2020
DIRECTORS NOTE
It is mainly the harsh blows that stir up our superficial existence and reveal the core of our being. I witnessed the birth of my first son and the sudden death of my youth friends when I was 18 years old. Paradoxically, I went through these events, with almost identical sensations. So, as if hot and cold water touches the skin at the same time and for a brief moment it‘s not clear, which feeling belongs to which event. Everything around me was more intense than the reality I previously knew. In both moments, an transcendent but raw perception of the world opened up. BEAST is not another coming-of-age but a contemporary coming-into-life film, dedicated to inevitable themes that concern us at all ages.
DIRECTORS FILMOGRAPHY
Lorenz Merz was born in Zurich from swiss-american parents. After formation in painting, music and photography he studied film at University of the Arts Zurich and Universidad del Cine Buenos Aires. His graduate short ONE DAY AND NOTHING 2008 won international awards, including the Silver Leopard at 61st Locarno IFF and the Swiss Film Award 2009. With CHERRY PIE (IFF Locarno 2013/Rotterdam2014) featuring Lolita Chammah he won international awards and was nominated for Best Cinematography at the Swiss Film Awards 2014. With his work as cinematographer he was represented several times at IFF Camerimage (worlds greatest festival dedicated to the art of cinematography). Among other awards he won another two times the Swiss Film Award - Best Cinematography for SUMMER GAMES (IFF Venice/Toronto 2011, Official Swiss Entry - 84th Academy Awards 2012) and WAR (IFF San Sebastian/Karlovy Vary 2014). In 2013 Lorenz Merz and fellow filmmakers founded the Zurich based production company 8horses. He was part of IFF Jury's (68th Locarno IFF Neuchatel Fantastic IFF), is member of the EFA European Film Academy, the SFA Swiss Film Academy and the SCS Swiss Cinematographer’s Society. Father of two sons, lives and works in Paris and Zurich.
He currently works on new screenplay Who/Man (about the fastest woman in the world, a Japanese ghost and a car rally somewhere in Africa)
BEAST shooting - Ella Rumpf, Pablo Caprez - Director (DoP) Lorenz Merz
BEAST receives IWC Award (post-prod support)