32.

30th Film Festival of Lessinia Bosco Chiesanuova 22 - 31 August 2025

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Silvesterchlausen

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Silvesterchlausen

Andrew Norman Wilson 

12' / 

Switzerland, 

United States 

/ 2025

The last day of the year according to the Gregorian calendar is December 31st; according to the Julian calendar, it is January 13th. On these two days in the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden, Switzerland, the Silvesterchläusen appear. They are the Schöne (the Beautiful) with reassuring masks, velvet and lace costumes, and large hats adorned with miniature rural scenes; the Wüeschti (the Ugly), wearing frightening masks and clothes made of branches, bark, and moss; and the Schö-Wüeschti, also called “tree men,” dressed like the Ugly but less terrifying. They carry large cowbells whose rhythmic tolls alternate with the polyphonic singing of traditional Jodel. The opening shots in extreme close-up of the elaborate headdresses, estranged from their context, create a disorienting effect. The sound of the cowbells and the Jodel singing induce a trance-like state. The use of thermal cameras seems to hint at the mystery of a ritual passed down for at least five centuries, whose full meaning is still unknown.
photo of Andrew Norman Wilson

Andrew Norman Wilson

Andrew NormanWilson

An American visual artist and filmmaker, he earned a degree in Television, Radio, and Film from Syracuse University. He directed Workers Leaving the Googleplex (2011). His works have been featured at Sundance, the New York Film Festival, and IFFR and showcased at the MoMA in New York, the Getty Museum, and the Centre Pompidou. He has received awards at the San Francisco International Film Festival and the International Film Festival Rotterdam and has taken part in the Oxbelly Director’s Lab and the Locarno Filmmakers Academy.
photo of Andrew Norman Wilson

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Producer

  • Andrew Norman Wilson

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Frame from Silvesterchlausen film
Frame from Silvesterchlausen film
Frame from Silvesterchlausen film