Les Grandes Ondes (à l'Ouest)

Longwave

April 1974: two journalists working for the Swiss radio are sent to Portugal to make a report about Swiss aid there. Bob, a sound technician nearing retirement, goes along for the ride aboard his trusty mobile broadcast unit VW van. However, once there, nothing seems to go as planned. What with abandoned projects and others serving as a deposit to colonial theses for supporters of Salazar, the atmosphere is highly charged between Julie, the feminist, and the wily war correspondent Chauvin. Not even the cheery disposition of Pelé, the young Portuguese translator, makes any difference and the team decides to throw in the towel. But the wind of historic change steers the VW to the center of the Carnation Revolution …

Director's Biography

Lionel Baier, born 1975 in Lausanne, Switzerland, studied the Arts at the University of Lausanne from 1995 and 1999. Since 2002 he has been Head of the Film department at ECAL (École Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne) and he is also Vice President of the Swiss Film Archive. In 2009 Crossing Europe dedicated a Tribute to Lionel Baier and Ursula Meier. LONGWAVE had its world premiere at Locarno Film Festival in 2013. // Films (selected): COMME DES VOLEURS (À L’EST) (Stealth, 2006; CE '09), UN AUTRE HOMME (Another Man, 2008; CE '09), LES GRANDES ONDES (À L’OUEST) (Longwave, 2013)