Death Swiss director Richard Dindo dies at the age of 80
His work comprises around 40 films: Zurich-born director and documentary filmmaker Richard Dindo died on Wednesday at the age of 80 in hospital in Paris in the presence of his family, as confirmed to the Keystone-SDA news agency.
13.02.2025, 19:21
SDA
His best-known film was probably "The Shooting of the Traitor Ernst S.". The self-taught filmmaker, who was born in Zurich on June 5, 1944, caused a sensation in 1970 with the 1976 documentary. In the film, which Dindo made together with Niklaus Meienberg, he traced the fate of Ernst Schrämli, who was executed during the Second World War for alleged treason. Richard Dindo thus questioned Switzerland's self-perception and confronted it with its repression.
The 1968 movement shaped Richard Dindo not only as a person, but also as a filmmaker. On his website, he wrote about himself that he could not believe how he, the son of an Italian construction worker, could look back on so many films. This is partly due to the fact that he emigrated to Paris in 1966 in his early 20s, where he was caught up in the events of 1968.
His films are historical, political and questioning. His work often revolves around rebellion, against a social order or a mentality.
Max Frisch was very important to him, whom he calls "our teacher and educator". Ever since he made "Max Frisch, Journal I-III" in 1981, he had dreamed of making a film version of "Homo Faber". He then did so in 2014 with "Homo Faber (Three Women)". In it, Dindo tells the story of Swiss engineer Walter Faber, who falls in love with his own daughter. In terms of its style, the film is a documentary through and through. He was "not a feature film director, but a documentary filmmaker", Richard Dindo said at the time.
