Literature/Film Elephants and world peace: short stories by a filmmaker
Filmmaker Felix Tissi has been devoting himself to literature for three years. "Die Ele-Fantasten" is his second volume of short stories. The man from Bern talks about the differences and similarities between film and literature - and the thing with elephants.
21.11.2025, 06:30
SDA
Since the 1980s, Felix Tissi has made a total of eleven feature films, including "Noah & the Cowboy", "Desert - Who is the Man?" and "Welcome to Iceland". "Aller Tage Abend" was the last in 2022. A year later, the freelance screenwriter and director published "Varias Tapas" with the ironic subtitle "The world briefly explained in seven chapters"; it was his first collection of short stories. Now comes the second (21.11.): "Die Ele-Fantasten", again illustrated by Bernese artist Cécile Keller. Tissi has also lived in Bern for many years.
Lovingly turned towards people
The miniatures are characterized by wonderful laconicism and subtle humour. Despite all the adversity that Tissi's protagonists sometimes have to endure and despite the imponderables that their actions entail, the stories come across as light-footed, lovingly turned towards people and life. And then there are the elephants.
Whether film or short story - "writing is basically writing," says Tissi in an interview with the Keystone-SDA news agency. But there are fundamental differences between screenplays and literature: "A screenplay alone is nothing. If it isn't made into a movie, it doesn't exist, whereas literature stands for itself and is already a finished product." And Tissi points out another difference: "Every screenplay ends up in the calculator sooner or later. Film ideas cost money. With literature, on the other hand, I can flood an entire city, make houses explode or travel to distant times and countries without any financial outlay." However, there is a not insignificant catch: "Since films consume a lot of money anyway, screenplays are much better financed than books."
Reading a book is also completely different to watching a movie. "A movie projects its world onto the screen - a book projects its world into your head. That naturally has an effect on writing," says the author. In a movie, only what can be seen and heard counts. So there are no abstract concepts. "Of course, a screenplay can also be atmospherically formulated, but then it's already a stage direction."
From your own "inner movie"
In contrast, literature can make use of inner processes, thoughts or comparisons. "It has no images, no actors, no sounds and no music at its disposal," says Tissi. Atmosphere, rhythm and sound can only be created with the alphabet. "However, this limitation has the advantage that readers can imagine their own 'inner movie'," says the author. Perhaps this is why people are often disappointed by literary adaptations if they have read the original.
Tissi has no desire for his short stories to be made into films: "Otherwise I would have done it myself." They are two different media.
According to Tissi, short stories have the "problem" that they are short. With feature-length films or even a novel, you always continue on the same track. "But short stories are usually written in one day. The next day, you start from scratch again and have to come up with something new." Unfortunately, that doesn't happen every day.
The appeal of fiction
When Felix Tissi encounters something in everyday life, he is attracted by its fictional potential. "If I see two joggers running past each other, for example, I imagine what would happen if one of them suddenly turned around and, without knowing the other, simply ran along with them." That could be the beginning of a little story. Incidentally, it's a lot of fun to go through life like this and imagine what would be possible. Whether in films or stories, he can put himself in the shoes of other people and fates by writing, without it having any consequences for himself.
The fact that Felix Tissi likes his protagonists can be felt in all his stories. They stumble, struggle and falter, but in the end they move on - and perhaps even experience something like happiness. His stories arise from the weaknesses of the characters, which he also particularly likes. Tissi emphasizes: "So I don't write about them, I write out of them."
And what does that have to do with the elephants in the title? "There are all kinds of elephants in the book, in all kinds of different forms," says the author. As he lets his imagination run wild in his stories, the play on words "Die Ele-Fantasten" ("The Elephant Masters") came about. "If I wanted to bring myself into the game as a writer," says Tissi, "it would be 'The Ele-Fan-Keyboard'."
*This text by Raphael Amstutz, Keystone-SDA, was realized with the help of the Gottlieb and Hans Vogt Foundation.
