Filmmaker Frank Matter set out to find people who, like him, were born on June 8, 1964, but under completely different circumstances. Following their life stories, «Parallel Lives» takes us on a moving and visually stunning journey through the last decades. The world has changed a lot during this time. What impact did this have on the individual? How are time and place intertwined with who we are and where we’re going? Little by little, the stories of the protagonists merge into a colorful and multi-layered fresco of our time. The film touches on the existential question of what it means to be human.
Zukiswa Ramncwana grew up in a small village in South Africa, under a regime that denied her even the most basic rights. After the end of apartheid, the country undergoes massive changes making her believe that now anything is possible that she has been dreaming of.
Michel Berandi spent his childhood in Paris. As a teenager he rebels against the bourgeois conventions that mean so much to his parents, but drugs, sex and rock’n’roll lead him to the edge of the abyss.
Zukiswa Ramncwana
Michel Berandi
Melissa Hensy runs away from the disciplined, closed-off world of her American military family to Panama, in order to take charge of her own life. But her self-liberation ends in a nightmare.
Li Pujian was born in a Chinese provincial town. During the Cultural Revolution, his father is humiliated and beaten. Later the family is exiled to the countryside. The Lis are very poor, often there is hardly enough food. Then China experiences an unprecedented economic boom that totally changes Lis’s life.
Melissa Hensy
Li Pujian
From radically subjective perspectives, «Parallel Lives» explores how political ideas, personal dreams and the consciousness of the individual change against the background of historical events. What happened to the children of June 8, 1964 between the poles of liberation and alienation, individualism and loneliness, tolerance and indifference?
«A chronicler who recites events without distinguishing between major and minor ones acts in accordance with the following truth: nothing that has ever happened should be regarded as lost for history.»
«The true picture of the past flits by. The past can be seized only as an image which flashes up at the instant when it can be recognized and is never seen again…»
I still remember the names, and when I close my eyes, I see children’s faces, some blurred and faded, others amazingly alive. In my primary school class there were all kinds of children, fat and thin, wallflowers and show-offs, workers‘ daughters and small- business sons. Despite the social and cultural differences, the common experiences shaped us more than the differences: We lived in the same village, were children of the economic boom, we laughed at the same jokes, saw the same TV shows, loved the Swiss comedian Emil, Wienerschnitzel and Coupe Danmark. We grew up in a relatively homogeneous society. Most of us had never been abroad, and there were only two or three children in our class whose parents had immigrated from another country. Our grandparents had lived in the same apartment for decades and usually worked for the same employer their entire life.
Director Frank Matter (r.) when he was five years old
A few years ago I met some of my former schoolmates again at a class reunion. Some of them I had not seen since 1977. Fascinated, I listened to their life stories. Some of the stories seemed to be predetermined by the environment in which these children had grown up, while the biographies of other school friends had taken surprising turns.
The conversations that evening brought back memories from my own life. It made me think of an uncle, who had been my favorite uncle for a long time. With him there were always great adventures. He owned a boat on Lake Zurich, and we ate out almost every day, and I loved boats and restaurants. Later he gave me long lectures about his views on life, for example about the fact that „negroes“ were cheerful people, but still quite childish, too childish to work seriously or to rule a country by themselves. No wonder that I got into terrible fights with him when my political consciousness awakened and I began to take part in protests against the apartheid regime.
Then a different memory came to my mind: In Sunday School, the priest showed us horrible pictures of famine, war zones and slums. «See how much misery there is in this world», the man of God exclaimed thunderously, only to remind us immediately that it was only thanks to the grace of God that we were so much better off than others, because the Creator had decided to let us live in peaceful Switzerland instead of Mali or Vietnam. Therefore, the priest continued, we should stop whining and complaining when something didn’t go according to our wishes, and just consider ourselves lucky and thank God for our privileges. «Humility, children, humility», the clergyman said, «this is what makes a true Christian!» The priest’s words tormented my young mind. I wondered why God had given me of all people the grace to be born in a rich, peaceful country? And what would the consequences be if I had been born somewhere else: Would I still be me or would I be another person? What is the self anyway, just a random construction, whose essence depends essentially on place and time? If so, I thought, the grace of God the priest had talked about would not be a personal gesture bestowed on me, but a product of chance, just like my self and my consciousness.
These memories of a little boy’s existential questions inspired my imagination that evening on my way home from the class reunion. In the following days I thought a lot about the complex relationship between time and place, society and individual, perception and self-awareness.
Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space
Then slowly an idea took shape: I wanted to tell the stories of a handful of people who were born on the same day as me, but in different countries and under completely different conditions. My own story was to serve as a foil through which I could view the biographies of my twins. The world has changed a great deal since I was born, from the decolonization of Africa to the social changes after May 68 and the fall of Soviet-style socialism twenty years later, from the deregulation of international capital markets to the emancipation of women and the increasing acceptance of sexual minorities, to name just a few of the many developments. I wanted to reflect on how the changes and events in the outside world shaped our personal consciousness and perception and how our consciousness and perception simultaneously shaped our actions and thus the era. What has happened to us between the poles of liberation and alienation, individualism and loneliness, tolerance and indifference, emancipation and paternalism, liberalization and neoliberalism?
With great enthusiasm, I set out to find the children of June 8, 1964, and through a simple Google search I came across several well-known contemporaries who had been born on the same day as me, such as an Olympic middle-distance runner and Bob Dylan’s sound engineer. I was particularly fascinated by Yelena Adrianovna Nikolayeva, the very first child whose parents had both been in space. I wrote to her repeatedly at an e-mail address I found online and tried to reach her by phone with the help of a Russian-speaking friend. But she did not respond to my questions.
Through Facebook advertisements and with the help of local researchers I intensified my search, focusing mainly on places that had played an important role in my own biography: South Africa, the USA, Paris and China. Over the next few months, the number of possible protagonists grew to around three dozen. After I had corresponded with them and visited some of my «twins» personally, I selected four of them for my film.
In «Parallel Lives», the protagonists talk about their lives from a radically subjective point of view thereby reflecting on how they have experienced contemporary history since June 1964. The film is a multi-layered kaleidoscope, an exciting and moving journey through the last decades using the means of cinema.
Even as we are in constant interaction with time and the environment, in the end everyone has only his life, his experience, his memories, and these memories are in constant change, constantly reshaped by the present. The film explores these dialectics that so fundamentally shape the human experience.
«Visually incredibly powerful and touching.»
«For me «Parallel Lives» is a Great Theater of the World, as Calderón would have made it, had cinema already been invented in his time. (…) a great, sensual, passionate image, sound and thought game.»
«Simple idea, great film.»
«Haunting and very touching.»
«In «Parallel Lives» (Matter) interweaves the life stories of Melissa, Zukiswa, Li and Michel with rich archive material and elements from his own biography. He composes a fascinating documentary fresco that shows what a strong impact the speed of globalization had on people’s lives.»
«It is not a history lesson (…), but a reflection on the small in the big, personal twists of fate and the course of the world. A rich, stimulating film, with precise visual and audio documents from numerous sources. And four very different stories that feel strange and familiar at the same time.»
«An equally exciting and rich journey through time, in which the Basel filmmaker reflects not only on the changing world, but also on coincidence and fate. (…) Matter’s documentary is a great achievement. Following the exciting life stories of the four protagonists and his own biography as well, he masterfully spans a wide net, and makes us impressively aware of how much these (life stories) are connected to historical changes.»
«The filmmaker interweaves the life stories (of the protagonists) with his own, gaining a personal view on contemporary history and making the interlocking (of historical developments) visible with a clever montage of archive material.»
«A richly layered kaleidoscope that takes the audience on a moving journey.»
« … A fascinating journey through the past 58 years.»
«… a fascinating jigsaw puzzle of recent history in a visually rich condensation. The starting point of (Matter’s) search is the question (…) about the fatefulness of existence and what connects people and what makes them strangers to each other.“
««Parallel Lives» artfully and breathlessly interweaves the biographies of five people living on four different continents. (…) Director Frank Matter merges these portraits of his contemporaries into a grand whole that makes you think about life and humanity»
«… A touching documentary about the vagaries of life …. «Parallel Lives» (…) merges the voices of its protagonists into a powerful chord that spans six decades and four continents … «Parallel Lives» isn’t wallowing in nostalgia for the past; the film carries the memories into the present and makes them ring. Life may happen in the waiting room of chance (…), but we contribute the soundtrack ourselves.»
«… An interesting documentary that (…) makes us understand (…) how much we are all part of the same history.»
«… A world collage about the dizzying flow of history that carries us along and conditions us beyond our individual existence, uniting us beyond all our social differences.»
«… A very poetic idea … very entertaining.»
«Fascinating material … An exciting work.»
A film by
Frank Matter
Producers
Madeleine Corbat
Peter Guyer
Frank Matter
Camera
Steff Bossert
Sound recordist
Olivier JeanRichard
Editors
Konstantin Gutscher
Frank Matter
Rebecca Trösch
Priginal music
Christian Brantschen
Color grading
Peter Guyer
Ueli Müller
Sound design
Pedro Haldemann
Peter von Siebenthal
Melissa Hensy
Zukiswa Ramncwana
Li Pujian (李普建)
Michel Berandi
and the voice of
Stefan Kurt
Also appearing:
Max Smith
Bruce Moreland
Dai Mingying (戴明英)
Li Tingting (李婷婷)
Homer F. Hensy
Zachary Nabors
Soyama Ramncwana
Emma Luisier
Unathi Ramncwana
Noxolo Nola Mvalo
Qhamisa Mamtolo Qhezu
Li Anqing (李安晴)
Chen Guolian (陈国连)
Chen Yihan (陈懿晗)
Li Gongcheng (李公成)
Zhang Yunying (张允英)
and many more
A co-production by
Recycled Tv AG
soap factory GmbH
SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen, SRG SSR
Line producer
Madeleine Corbat
Commissioning editor SRF
Urs Augstburger
National coordination SRG SSR
Sven Wälti
Sales und communication soap factory GmbH
Loredana-Nastassja Fernández
Production assistant Recycled Tv
Kim Odermatt
Production manager China
Markus Schiesser
Production manager Virginia/Connecticut
Dennis Siebold
Driver China
Zhang Liujin (张刘金)
Driver South Africa
Vukani Ramncwana
Production assistant China
Wang Haisheng (王海生)
Production assistant South Africa
Soyama Ramncwana
Travel agency
Destination Travel AG, Cristina Sackmann
Additional camera
Frank Matter
Video postproduction
Rec Tv
Dialogue editing
himex:sounddesign, Pedro Haldemann
Sound mixing
Projektstudio GmbH, Peter von Siebenthal
Music mixed by
Toni Sulzener
Foley artists
Meloton Sound Effects,
Normann Büttner and Wolfi Müller
Voice-over studios
Basis Berlin & nurTon, Patrick Becker
Graphic design, art work, website
NEKA, Christine Kaufmann
bytes & bones, Klaus Affolter
Researcher South Africa
Anne Clarkson
Researcher Zambia
Jennifer Chibamba Chans
Researcher Russia
Lucia Sgueglia
Researchers China
Song Yunlong
Zhu Rikun
Markus Schiesser
Researcher USA
Robert Margolis
Archive SRF
Corina Zuber
Researcher Lichtspiel/Cinematheque Berne
Brigitte Paulowitz
Translations
Erik Smith
Markus Schiesser
Song Yunlong
Dr. Han Yan
Loredana-Nastassja Fernández
Manuela Vonwiller
Frank Matter
Konstantin Gutscher
Transcriptions Switzerland
Vera Geitz
Thabea Furrer
Zeljko Krajinovic
Transcriptions/translations China
Nora Ye
Transcriptions/translations Xhosa/South Africa
Vathiswa Tsotsotso
Subtitles
Postino Post Production
Accounting soap factory GmbH
Marcel Pfeiffer
Jeanette Stenz
Christine Pasquier
Swisslos-Fonds Basel-Stadt
Swisslos-Fonds Basel-Landschaft
Fachausschuss Film und Medienkunst beider Basel
Berner Filmförderung
Federal Office of Culture (FDHA), Switzerland
Swiss Public TV SRF and SRG SSR
Kulturfonds SUISSIMAGE
Ernst Göhner Stiftung
Volkart Stiftung
Kanton Solothurn/SOkultur
FONDATION SUISA
Burgergemeinde Bern
Sound library
freesound.org,
effects created by:
balou82
devy32
FrancoisTJP
InspectorJ
jackaTTackeditor
jmbphilmes
klankbeeld
krnd
kyles
mitchellsounds
schneidi67
thatjeffcarter
Additional music:
Piano Sonata No. 6 in F, op. 10, No. 2
Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven, performed by Arthur Schnabel, ca. 1935
«INC Incorporated»
Written and performed by Bruce Moreland for the band Ravens Moreland
Courtesy of Bruce Moreland
«Scene of a Crime»
Written and performed by Bruce Moreland for the band Ravens Moreland
Courtesy of Bruce Moreland
«Johnny Mac»
Written and performed by Bruce Moreland for the band Ravens Moreland
Courtesy of Bruce Moreland
«Umgqibelo»
Composed by Soyama Ramncwana & Mapokela Khumalo,
written by Soyama Ramncwana & Lwazi Kana,
arranged by Soyama Ramncwana
and performed by Lwaistar & EezyThaDon
Courtesy of Soyama Ramncwana
«Ländler Fun Gueti Lune»
Courtesy of Audio Kitchen
Film archives and image sources:
«Katutura» (1972)
Ulrich Schweizer
Courtesy of Ulrich Schweizer
Report on China (1973)
Schweizer Filmwochenschau
Federal Archives J2.143#1996/386#1546-1#1*
Courtesy of Swiss Federal Archives (BAR)
«Expo 64 in Lausanne» (1964)
Rudolf Henggi, Collection Rudolf Henggi, Lichtspiel/Cinematheque Berne
Courtesy of Eva Garius
Footage of Fall-out Shelter in Denver (1959)
Newsreel, archive.org
Footage of Valentina Tereshkova (1963)
Roscosmos
Various S8 Family Films (1963–69)
Peter Matter
Courtesy of Peter and Regula Matter
Wedding of Marion Frantz and Jörn Geister in Luxemburg (1979)
and Other S8 Footage
Jörn Geister, Collection Jörn Geister, Lichtspiel/Cinematheque Berne
Courtesy of Jörn and Marion Geister
Footage of Chinese Nuclear Bomb Test (1964)
Courtesy of kinolibrary
«Zurich by Night» (1960s)
Anton Frei, Collection Anton Frei, Lichtspiel/Cinematheque Berne
Courtesy of Lichtspiel/Cinematheque Berne
«Phantom Fighters» (1959)
From «The Big Picture», U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
Footage of Apollo 11 (1969)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Footage of May 68 in Paris (1968)
From «JT nuit»
Courtesy of Institut national de l’audiovisuel (INA)
Footage of the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966–70)
Courtesy of kinolibrary
«China, ein Reisebericht» (1967–1974)
Bo Gaertze
Source: Lichtspiel/Cinematheque Berne
Footage from Various S8 Films
Hermann Bichsel, Collection Hermann Bichsel, Lichtspiel/Cinematheque Berne
Courtesy of Beat Bichsel
Still Image of A Family in A District Destroyed by Rockets
Before the Fall of Saigon (1975)
Keystone/Roger Viollet/Françoise Demulder
Courtesy of Keystone
Still Image of Starving Refugee Ibo Children in Nigeria (1970)
Keystone/AP Photo/Dennis Lee Royle
Courtesy of Keystone
«Ruins of Lebanese Village After Aviation Attack» (1972)
Keystone/Sputnik
Courtesy of Keystone
Public Swimming Pool in Rapperswil (1960)
Anton Frei, Collection Anton Frei, Lichtspiel/Cinematheque Berne
Courtesy of Lichtspiel/Cinematheque Berne
«Couronnement de Bokassa 1er» (1977)
Adolphe Drhey, from «Question de temps»
Courtesy of Institut national de l’audiovisuel (INA)
«Wir und … die Stammbeiz» (1977)
Schweizer Fernsehen SRF
«Carpet Bombing of Hanoi» (1972)
U.S. National Archives, Public.Resource.org
«Screaming Eagles in Vietnam» (1967)
U.S. Departement of Defense, Public.Resource.org
«Combat Operations, Hoi An, South Vietnam» (1968)
U.S. Departement of Defense, Public.Resource.org
«The Color of Justice» (1970)
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Public.Resource.org
«Teddy» (1971)
University of California at Los Angeles, Extension Media Center
«Wuchtiges Nein zur Überfremdungsinitiative» (1974)
Schweizer Fernsehen SRF
«Arizona Road Trip in Campervan»
Courtesy of kinolibrary
Footage of the Punk Band Nasal Boys (1977)
from «Blickpunkt», Schweizer Fernsehen SRF
Footage of Paris (1973)
From «JT 20h»
Courtesy of Institut national de l’audiovisuel (INA)
«Punk and Disorderly» (1979)
V.A., archive.org
«TelQuel – AJZ de Bâle», (1981)
Claude Gaçon, Stefan Schwietert, Reinhard Manz
Television Suisse Romande
Courtesy of Reinhard Manz
«Es herrscht wieder Frieden im Land» (1981)
Editing: Reinhard Manz and Claude Gaçon
Camera: Reinhard Manz and Claude Gaçon
Courtesy of Reinhard Manz
Various Still Images from Basel in the 80s
Shot by and courtesy of Thomas Kneubühler, Montreal
South African Footage from the 70s
South African Archive by Theatre of Survival Ltd
Courtesy of Timebomb Pictures
«Südafrika nach den Unruhen von Soweto» (1976)
Schweizer Fernsehen SRF
Footage of Empty Halls and Prison Cell
Courtesy of kinolibrary
Footage of Arrest in South Africa (1980s)
Courtesy of kinolibrary
Footage of Downtown Los Angeles at Night (1990s)
Courtesy of kinolibrary
Footage of Los Angeles Night Life, Punks on the Streets (1980s)
Courtesy of kinolibrary
«China Looks West» (1982)
AP Archive/AP Television
Courtesy of AP Television
«China – das Drehmaterial» (1989)
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen ZDF
Dismantling the Berlin Wall (1989)
News Rushes, Schweizer Fernsehen SRF
«The Stranger» (1946)
Orson Welles, International Pictures Production/Sam Spiegel
«Blacks on South African Beaches»
AP Archive/AP Television
Courtesy of AP Television
«Life of Nelson Mandela»
Archive.org
«The Beauty of My Island» (1999)
Frank Matter, soap factory GmbH, starring Klaus Lutz
«Morocco» (1996)
Frank Matter, soap factory GmbH, starring Lee-Ann Thomas
and Robert Margolis
Footage of Burning World Trade Center (2001)
Archive.org
Lwaistar x EezyThaDon – Umgqibelo Music Video (2017)
Ofentse Mwase, OMFilms/Nelisiwe Mwase
Courtesy of Ofentse Mwase
Frank Matter has been making fiction films and documentaries as a director and producer since 1993. He worked in New York between 1993 and 2006. In 2006 he moved to Basel, Switzerland. Owner of the production company soap factory GmbH. soap factory films have been awarded numerous national and international prizes.
Born in Berne, Madeleine Corbat worked as a film journalist, in distribution and cinema public relation & marketing, 2008 training as a cultural manager. Since 2010 production manager and producer at Recycled Tv AG in Berne.
Productions (selection)
2021 PARALLEL LIVES by Frank Matter (co-produced with soap factory GmbH)
2020 CONTRADICT by Peter Guyer and Thomas Burkhalter
2018 JANET HAUFLER by Manuela Trapp
2018 A LONG WAY HOME by Luc Schaedler (co-produced with go between films)
2017 FELL IN LOVE WITH A GIRL by Kaleo LaBelle (co-produced with LaBelle Films)
2016 DEM HIMMEL ZU NAH by Annina Furrer
2016 ZEN FOR NOTHING by Werner Penzel (co-produced with Werner Penzel)
2016 MELODY OF NOISE by Gitta Gsell (co-produced with Mirapix)
2015 CONFUSION by Laurent Nègre (co-produced with Bord cadre films)
2014 LIFE IN PROGRESS by Irene Loebell
2013 ADIOS by Madeleine Corbat
2012 BUEBE GÖ Z’TANZ by Steve Walker
2012 IM SCHNITT by Konstantin Gutscher
2011 ZAFFARAYA 3.0 by Andreas Berger
2011 HO UND ÜBERALL by Peter Guyer and Balthasar Jucker
2009 SOUNDS AND SILENCE by Peter Guyer and Norbert Wiedmer
2009 NACHGIFT by Remo Legnazzi
2001 BIG MAC SMALL WORLD by Peter Guyer
2000 AREAL BLUM by Steff Bossert
1995 SIGNERS KOFFER by Peter Liechti (Koproduktion)
In production
DIE KUNST DES SCHEITERNS by Peter Guyer and Jürg Halter (Release 2021)
WIR HABEN KEINE ANGST by Dennis Stauffer (Release 2021)
PLAY WITH THE DEVIL by Olivier Joliat and Matthias Willi (Release 2022)
LAS TORERAS by Jackie Brutsche (Release 2021)
DIE EMPFÄNGNIS by Miklos Gimes (Release 2022)
IDDU by Miriam Ernst (Release 2022)
In development
NATHALIE by Tamara Milosevic
MORE HUMAN THAN ROBOTS by Irene Loebell
Technical production
Production support, camera and postproduction work for filmmakers like Peter Liechti, Sabine Gisiger, Frank Matter, Clemens Klopfenstein, Dieter Fahrer, Norbert Wiedmer, Alfredo Knuchel, Remo Legnazzi, Peter von Gunten, Jaqueline Veuve, Jaqueline Surchat, Bruno Moll, Felix Tissi, Simone Fürbringer, Nicolas Humbert und Werner Penzel, Fernand Melgar, Edwin Beeler, Sandra Gysi, Kari Saurer, Gabriele Schärer, Irene Loebell, Tamer Ruggli, Nicola Bellucci, Pierre-André Thiebaud, Mehdi Sahebi, Cihan Inan, Severine Barde, Marcel Derek Ramsay, Christian Iseli, Christof Schertenleib and others.
Founded in 1993 in New York, the company moved to Basel/Switzerland in 2006. Originally specialized low and no-budget feature films („Hannelore“, „Morocco“, „The Definition of Insanity“), soap factory GmbH is now mainly producing theatrical documentaries. The company has always looked to work with new talent and has produced numerous first films (with directors Nicola Bellucci, Kurt Reinhard, Christoph Schreiber, Jonas Schaffter, Thabea Furrer, Johanna Faust, Olivier Joliat).
Films
2022 RUÄCH by Andreas Müller, Simon Guy Fässler and Marcel Bächtiger (co-produced with 8horses)
2022 PLAY WITH THE DEVIL by Olivier Joliat and Matthias Willi (co-produced with Recycled Tv AG)
2021 PARALLEL LIVES by Frank Matter (co-produced with Recycled Tv AG)
2021 ANN’S PUB by Thabea Furrer
2020 ARADA by Jonas Schaffter
2020 WHO’S AFRAID OF ALICE MILLER? by Daniel Howald (produced for SwissDok)
2019 I’LL BE YOUR MIRROR by Johanna Faust
2017 CIAO BABYLON by Kurt Reinhard and Christoph Schreiber
2017 AMALIA E GIANCARLO by Kurt Reinhard and Christoph Schreiber
2015 THOMAS HIRSCHHORN – GRAMSCI MONUMENT by Angelo Lüdin
2015 LA BUENA VIDA by Jens Schanze (co-produced with Mascha Film)
2015 GROZNY BLUES by Nicola Bellucci
2013 VON HEUTE AUF MORGEN by Frank Matter
2010 NEL GIARDINO DEI SUONI by Nicola Bellucci
2004 THE DEFINITION OF INSANITY by Frank Matter and Robert Margolis
1999 THE BEAUTY OF MY ISLAND by Frank Matter
1996 MOROCCO by Frank Matter
1993 HANNELORE by Frank Matter and Michael Luisier
In production
LOVE STORIES by Nicola Bellucci
In development
BECOMING VULNERABLE by Gregor Brändli and Deneth Piumakshi Wedaarachchige
HOTPOT (various directors)
THE RULES OF THE GAME by Frank Matter
More information on festival track record, awards und what critics say on www.soapfactory.ch.
Cineworx
Clarastrasse 48
4005 Basel
Switzerland
Phone: +41-61-644 54 54
www.cineworx.ch
Recycled Tv
Sandrainstrasse 3
CH–3007 Bern
Switzerland
www.rectv.ch
soap factory GmbH
Pfarrgasse 11
Postfach
CH–4019 Basel
Switzerland
www.soapfactory.ch