Dream Girl
2012 · 20m · Switzerland
Directed by Oliver Schwarz
Genres: documentary
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, surreal
Dirk has spent most of his life searching for the perfect woman; the line between imagination and reality dissolves.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Swiss student film about a man searching for the perfect woman, hybrid doc/fiction — sounds like a fine BFA project, eight years later it's just an artifact. Pass.
Schwarz's hybrid documentary placing the viewer inside Dirk's romanticized inner world is the Errol Morris portrait move with a Swiss formal restraint, and twenty minutes is enough to commit. An HSLU graduation film that has aged into something more interesting than its origin.
20-minute Swiss documentary from 2012 (HSLU production) — the conceit of straddling documentary and fantasy is a serious bet at that runtime. Without strong craft signals on the page beyond 'Golden Medal of Belgrade,' calling it moderately curious.
Festivals
- Berlinale Shorts Competition 2013 2012
- Visions du Réel 2013 2012
- Chicago IFF 2013 — Silver Hugo Best Short Documentary 2012