Biography
Marcel Gisler was born in Altstätten, Switzerland on March 18 1960. He studied drama and philosophy in Berlin, where he co-founded a film collective dedicated to the principle of "cinéma copain": Shooting with a (mostly unpaid) team consisting of friends and acquaintances. Working with this group, Gisler made his feature-length debut "Tagediebe" (1985), which chronicles the West-Berlin counterculture of the 1980s and went on to win the award for Best First Feature at the Locarno IFF. At the same festival, Gisler's sophomore effort "Schlaflose Nächte" (1988) took home the Ernest Artaria Award. His drama "Die Blaue Stunde", which depicts the romance between a Berlin callboy and his neighbor, won the Award of the Saarland Prime Minister at the Max-Ophüls-Preis festival.
The tragic gay love story "F. est un salaud" ("Fögi ist ein Sauhund", FR/CH 1998), based on the cult novel by Martin Frank, screened at Locarno IFF and was given the second prize by the youth jury. Moreover, it was named Best Feature Film at the Swiss Film Awards.
From 2003 until 2007, Gisler was one of the writers of the popular Swiss TV series "Lüthi und Blanc", which revolves around an eccentric chocolate manufacturer. Gisler's next feature "Rosie" (CH 2013) was the opening film of the 2013 Solothurner Filmtage. In addition to winning numerous accolades at festivals, it was nominated for four Swiss Film Awards, with lead Sibylle Brunner eventually taking home the trophy for Best Female Actor.
"Electroboy", Marcel Gisler's first feature-length documentary, relates the exceptional biography of multi-talented artist and entrepreneur Florian Burkhardt who despite his successes suffers from severe anxiety attacks. "Electroboy" garnered multiple awards, including the Swiss Film Awards for Best Editing and Best Documentary. In line with his work as a writer-director, Marcel Gisler also teaches at several film academies.