Movie Excavator as a visual element for a touching family story
SDA
24.1.2025 - 11:00

"Bagger Drama" is the first feature-length film by director Piet Baumgartner. The film will celebrate its Swiss premiere at the 60th Solothurn Film Festival and has also been nominated for the Prix de Soleure. Baumgartner talks to us about what the film means to him.
A family has lost their daughter in an accident. The film "Bagger Drama" tells of the speechlessness in the family, of pain and loss, but also of possible new beginnings. It was his "most personal project to date", says 41-year-old Swiss director Piet Baumgartner to the Keystone-SDA news agency.
The film celebrates its Swiss premiere in Solothurn on Saturday evening in the large indoor riding arena with room for almost 1000 people. "An accolade for us," says the man from Seeland, who is currently working and living in London for six months thanks to a studio scholarship. At its world premiere at the San Sebastian Film Festival, "Bagger Drama" won the director's prize. "This gave the film an unexpected boost."
An autofictional story
The story is autofictional. It is based on experiences and adventures in his own youth and was therefore also inspired by his family. "We didn't learn to talk about feelings, sex, love and ourselves," he says. "Just get on with it" was the attitude. But of course he also took artistic liberties with the script.
Baumgartner is particularly important: "The film is not a reckoning with my homeland, my history or my relatives." Rather, this work helps people to understand. "'Excavator Drama' is a bit like therapy."
Excavator drivers and queer people come together in the film. The exchange between different worlds is important to Baumgartner. "I'm a bit trapped in a 'cultural bubble' myself. That's why I'm glad to have friends outside the industry."
He is interested in people. Their motivation, their fears, their needs, their wishes. This was already evident in "The Driven Ones" (2013). In his documentary, he accompanied students at the HSG (University of St. Gallen). The university was not amused by the portrait of the "driven ones".
Detours to the film
Baumgartner grew up in a village "dominated by the SVP, with less than 150 inhabitants". It was clear: "You'll take over your father's SME one day." But he didn't want that and looked for alternatives.
He first trained as a mechanical draughtsman. "I had my epiphany at a small television station in the Bernese Seeland," he recalls. He was able to film cattle shows and jass evenings there - and there was plenty of room to try things out. After working as a video journalist, he attended film schools in Zurich and Warsaw in his mid-20s. Work in theaters followed. His play about former Federal Councillor Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf at Theater Neumarkt won an award.
Despite his successes, existential fear still resonates with him. "Cultural work is poorly paid," says Baumgartner. "That's probably why I work 120 percent." But he doesn't want pity for it. By taking part, he is saying yes to the rules of the game. "And I have all the freedom in the world."
In addition to the strong part that revolves around the family, which is the heart of the subtle and haunting film, "Bagger Drama" scores with its images. The visuals are important to Baumgartner. When the script was written, he was looking for "a visual element" to tell his story. He found it in these huge machines. One reason for this was certainly the huge success of a music video he made in 2015 using these excavators, which caused quite a stir.
Dance of the excavators
Technology fascinates the filmmaker. "Where I come from, technology is associated with a belief in progress. Sometimes it almost has religious overtones," says Baumgartner. They believe that everything can be managed and fixed with and thanks to it, even the consequences of climate change. "At the same time, technology also has something poetic about it. Excavators can also dance." This can be seen in the ballet performed by the excavators in the film.
On set, the director is not a fan of improvisation. He rehearses intensively before filming begins. "A film location with all the machines, the time pressure and the people is too inhuman an environment to tell stories about feelings. For the actors and actresses to open up emotionally, they need security and trust." This succeeds with joint rehearsals and detailed discussions in advance.
Baumgartner is currently writing two plays and two film ideas in parallel in England. But first comes the 60th Solothurn Film Festival. Baumgartner likes the new crew around director Niccolò Castelli. "I sense an upswing, a freshness. I feel picked up by the program. That wasn't always the case."
How will the people of Solothurn react to "Bagger Drama"? Baumgartner admits that he had a few sleepless nights in the run-up. Because: "It's my family and my friends. It's the most difficult audience."
*This text by Raphael Amstutz, Keystone-SDA, was realized with the help of the Gottlieb and Hans Vogt Foundation.