The world premiere of Michael Steiner’s hostage drama And Tomorrow We Will Be Dead (Und morgen seid ihr tot) about two Swiss Taliban hostages opens the 17th Zurich Film Festival on September 23, 2021.
After Sennentuntschi and The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch, Swiss director Michael Steiner returns to the Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) with his most recent work, the hostage drama And Tomorrow We Will Be Dead. The movie could not be more topical: while the Taliban have seized power in Afghanistan, Steiner reminds us of the incredible story of Daniela Widmer (Morgane Ferru) and David Och (Sven Schelker), the Swiss couple kidnapped and handed over to the holy warriors in 2011 while traveling through Pakistan. The story kept Switzerland on tenterhooks. For eight months, the two held out as hostages until they managed a spectacular escape.
The film is based on a personal report of their experience by the same name, published in 2013 by DuMont Buchverlag.
Widmer and Och will be present at the world premiere at ZFF.
“Michael Steiner understands auteur cinema with great audience appeal like no other Swiss director,” says Artistic Director Christian Jungen. “His new movie, his strongest to date, demonstrates international stature. The film reminds me of Kathryn Bigelow’s thriller Zero Dark Thirty about the hunt for Osama bin Laden.”
“It’s a great honor to be the first director to open ZFF for the second time,” says Steiner, whose horror story Sennentuntschi was the festival’s opening film in 2010. Steiner has realized a completely different horror story this time: shot in India, Spain and Switzerland, the film tells the dramatic story from the perspective of the Taliban’s kidnap victims, Daniela Widmer and David Och, who wanted to fulfill their dream of traveling along the ancient Silk Road through Pakistan, but were kidnapped on the way, taken to war-torn Waziristan and handed over to the Taliban. Hardly anyone expected them to get out alive. Never before had civilians managed to escape from the clutches of the Taliban – but the two Swiss citizens managed the seemingly impossible.
“I’m a storyteller and here I wanted to give a personal insight into the fate of the two hostages Daniela Widmer and David Och, so that the audience understands the context,” says Steiner.
Watch the trailer for And Tomorrow We Will Be Dead (Und morgen seid ihr tot)
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