Pink Apple
Pink Apple is the biggest gay & lesbian film festival in Switzerland and takes place every springtime in Zürich and Frauenfeld.
History
In 1997 the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival Pink Apple was founded by a handful of film enthusiasts in Frauenfeld, a small city in the Canton of Thurgau in Eastern Switzerland. The Swiss ”Apple Canton“, also nicknamed ”Cider India“ because of its many apple trees, was the reason for its naming. Initially its aim was to promote the emancipation and acceptance of homosexuality in the provinces on the basis of a cultural activity. The festival was first held in 1998, showing ten films to a large crowd in the tiny Cinema Luna in Frauenfeld.
Pink Apple landed in Zurich in the wake of the lesbian and gay EuroGames held there in the year 2000. A programme with seven performances of seven films was very successful right from the start. Since then the festival has been growing continuously and the main focus is now in the "little big city" of Zurich thanks to the great public encouragement and rising demand for an annual gay and lesbian film programme. The opening of Pink Apple took place in Zurich for the first time in 2003.
In the meantime Pink Apple has become the largest lesbian and gay film festival in Switzerland. This year about 80 films are to be shown in 80 performances. The initial audience of 500 has increased more than tenfold to approximately 7,000 people in 2008. Nevertheless, the festival still takes place in its birthplace Frauenfeld as well, where a reduced programme is shown.
Pink Apple is based on a society and is an independent project. The members of the organizing committee (at present around twenty people) work on a voluntary basis.
Awards
In order to encourage film making with lesbian and gay topics, a short film competition was established in 2001. Ever since, the Pink Apple Award worth 2000 Swiss Francs has been presented every year by a jury consisting of film experts. Also since 2001, the audience itself determines the most popular feature or documentary film by vote, granting it the Pink Apple Audience Award. Since 2008 a separate prize each is given to the most popular feature and to the most popular documentary film.
Past Winners
- Pink Apple Award / Short Film Competition
2009: The Island, Trevor Anderson, Canada 2009
2008: No Bikini, Claudia Morgado Escanilla, Canada 2007
2007: Airplanes, Jen Heck, USA 2006
2006: John and Michael, Shira Avni, Canada 2004
2005: A Different War, Nadav Gal, Israel 2003
2004: Bar Talk, Cheryl Furjanic, USA 2002
2003: Snöchschtmol, Lawrence Grimm, Switzerland 2002
2002: They Still Smile, Irina Sizova, Ukraine 2002
2001: Kimberly, Bettina Disler, Switzerland/Australia 2000
- Pink Apple Audience Award / long feature and documentary films
2008: XXY, Lucía Puenzo, Argentina/England/France 2007
2008: Football Under Cover, Ayat Najafi & David Assmann, Germany 2008
2007: Imagine Me and You, Ol Parker, England/Germany 2005
2006: Paper Dolls, Tomer Heymann, Israel/Switzerland 2005
2005: Beautiful Boxer, Ekachai Uekrongtham, Thailand 2003
2004: D.E.B.S., Angela Robinson, USA 2003
2003: Ruthie and Connie: Every Room in the House, Deborah Dickson, USA 2001
2002: La parade (Notre histoire), Lionel Baier, Switzerland 2001
2001: Trembling Before G-d, Sandi Sima Dubowski, USA/Israel 2000