First Swiss Film Debuts in Karlovy Vary Competition
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- "A Happy Family" is the first Swiss film screened in Karlovy Vary Film Festival's Crystal Globe Competition, directed by Jan-Eric Mack, sold by Bendita Film Sales, and produced by C-Films AG.
- The film follows Niki (Anna Schinz), a single mother working constantly to provide for her two children; after they accidentally set the kitchen on fire while she's away, authorities place them with a foster family in another city and bar her from contact.
- Mack said research showed that "parents will go to extreme places when their children are taken away," framing Niki as an "ambivalent character" who also puts her kids in a conflict of loyalty.
- The director deliberately shifted the film away from social realism into thriller territory with grotesque humor, telling Variety: "When you pitch this topic, it feels like a normal social drama. I loved playing with these expectations."
- Mack cited pandemic-era food lines in Switzerland — "an unusual sight" where poverty isn't usually visible on the streets — and said single mothers "feel invisible in this society" as poverty numbers rise.
- Mack rejected moral judgment on either side, calling the title dialectic: "A 'happy family' doesn't really exist — it's a dream," and inviting viewers to ask "What would I do in this situation?"
Why it matters: As the first Swiss film in Karlovy Vary's Crystal Globe Competition, "A Happy Family" gives Bendita Film Sales its highest-profile festival platform yet, pitching a Swiss social-issue story wrapped in thriller and grotesque-comedy elements to international buyers — a packaging that distinguishes it from the country's usual social-realist exports.
