Thomas Imbach is an independent filmmaker based in Zürich, Switzerland. With his production company Bachim Films, Imbach produced his own work until 2007. He then founded Okofilm Productions together with director/producer Andrea Staka. All of his films have been released theatrically and Imbach has won numerous awards for his work, both in Switzerland and abroad. With Well Done and Ghetto Imbach established his trademark audio-visual style, which is based on a combination of cinema- verité camera-work and fast-paced computer-controlled editing. His fiction features Happiness is a Warm Gun, as well as Lenz, I was a Swiss Banker and the fictive autobiography Day is Done all premiered at the Berlinale. His latest feature film Mary Queen of Scots celebrated its premiere in Locarno and at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2013.
Love Island, 2014, by Jasmila Zbanic, Fiction feature film,35mm Produced by Produkcija Ziva, Deblokada Films. Coproduced by Komplizen Film, MPM Film, Okofilm Productions. Screened at Locarno International Film Festival 2014.
As writer/director/producer
Nemesis, 2020, Documentary, 35mm, 132 min. Premiered in competition at Visions du Réel Nyon 2020
Glaubenberg, 2018, Autobiographical inspired feature film, Arriraw and 35mm, 114 min. Premiered in competition at Locarno Film Festival 2018 - Received Zurich Film Award 2018
Mary Queen of Scots, 2013, Fiction feature film, 35mm, 100 min. Coproduced by Okofilm Productions, Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen, SRG SSR, ARTE, Sciapode Productions. World Premiere: Locarno 2013, competition, International Premiere: Toronto Film Festival 2013, special presentations
I Was a Swiss Banker, 2007, Drama, 35mm, 75 min. Underwater fairy tale of the Swiss Banker Roger Caviezel. Premiered at the 57th International Film Festival Berlin - Swiss Film Awards 2008, Nomination Best Actor - Zurich Film Awards 2008, Special Jury award
Happiness is a Warm Gun, 2001, Drama, 35mm, 92 min., Drama on the mystic death of the lovers Petra Kelly und Gert Bastian. - Nominated for the Golden Leopard 2001, International Film Festival Locarno - Official Selection International Film Festival Berlin 2002 - Zurich Film Prize, 2001 - Nominated for “Best Swiss Feature Film”, 2001 - Quality Award
Portrait Film on Thomas Imbach “Die Kamera als Sonde”, 2000, Beta-SP, 60 min. by Christoph Hübner for WDR/3Sat
Nano-Babies, 1998, 35mm, 45 min. Science-Fiction essay on babies of high-tech researchers for Swiss Television/3SAT - Commissioned by Swiss Television and 3Sat
Ghetto, 1997, Feature documentary, 35mm, 122 Min. Docudrama with teenagers on the sunny side of Zurich's Gold Coast - Best Documentary, International Film Festival Mannheim - Premio Giampaolo Paoli, International Film Festival Florence - Quality Award - Zurich Film Prize
Well Done, 1994, Feature documentary, 35mm, 75 Min. Documentary on employees of a Swiss high-tech bank corporation. - FIPRESCI-Prize in Leipzig
- Quality Award - Art award of the city Lucerne - Zurich Film Prize
Restlessness, 1991, 16mm, 58 min. Rail-movie with three homeless people in the IC-triangle ZH-BE-BS - Nominated for the Max-Ophüls-Prize, 1991
Kino CH / CINÉMA CH, Reception, Aesthetic, History EINE ÄSTHETIK DER WIDERSPRÜCHE. VARIATIONEN ÜBER THOMAS IMBACH by Marcy Goldberg, Schüren Verlag 2008
CINEMA 50, „Variations on a Ture Story“, a conversation with Thomas Imbach by Grob and Nathalie Böhler, Schüren Verlag 2005
CINEMA 46, „Den Schleier der Wahrnehmung zerreissen“ by Marcy Goldberg, Chronos Verlag 2001
Dokumentarisch Arbeiten, a studio conversation with Thomas Imbach by Christoph Hübner and Gabriele Voss, Schüren Verlag 1999
„My Filmschool“: Werner Nekes Retrospektive, Katalog 1986/87, by Thomas Imbach and Christoph Settele, Zyklop Verlag 1986
