CAGED BIRDS

BIS WIR TOT SIND ODER FREI

By Oliver RIHS

CONTRAST FILM BERN GMBH - as PROD

Drama - Completed 2020

1980: The idealistic lawyer Barbara Hug tries to fight and humanize the draconian Swiss juridical system. She is joined by the legendary criminal Walter Stürm who becomes her partner in crime – and maybe even a bit more.

Festivals
& Awards

Camerimage 2020
Main Competition
Tallinn Black Nights IFF 2020
Competition / Best Actress Award
    • Year of production
    • 2020
    • Genres
    • Drama, True Story, Biography
    • Countries
    • GERMANY, SWITZERLAND
    • Languages
    • SWISS-GERMAN, GERMAN, SPANISH
    • Budget
    • 3 - 5 M$
    • Duration
    • 117 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Oliver RIHS
    • Writer(s)
    • Oliver RIHS, Dave TUCKER, Ivan MADEO, Oliver KEIDEL, Norbert MAASS
    • Producer(s)
    • Ivan MADEO (CONTRAST FILM ZÜRICH GMBH), Jan KRÜGER (PORT-AU-PRINCE FILM & KULTUR PRODUKTION GMBH), Jörg TRENTMANN (PORT-AU-PRINCE FILM & KULTUR PRODUKTION GMBH), Stefan EICHENBERGER (CONTRAST FILM ZÜRICH GMBH), Urs FREY (CONTRAST FILM ZÜRICH GMBH)
    • Synopsis
    • Barbara Hug is a young radical lawyer fighting Switzerland’s antiquated prison system in the 1980s. Walter Stürm is a charmer and chancer. Taunting the establishment with his outrageous thefts and media-savvy he's in and often escaping out of jail and becomes known as the Jailbreak King. When the two meet an unlikely alliance is formed. Barbara wants to use Storm’s popularity for her social reform goals. But the less Walter Storm yields to her reasoning, the more she falls for the fascination of his uncompromising desire for freedom. Stürm becomes the rock against which she beats in vain and will grow.