A FILM by MARTIN WITZ
It’s a pity Ammann can’t live another hundred years. For then he’d build a bridge over the ocean.
(The New Yorker, 1964)
FACTSHEET
Directed by Martin Witz
Produced by Andres Pfaeffli
Elda Guidinetti
Land of Origin Switzerland, 2019
Language DE / ENG
Format Flat - 1:1,85
88 min. / 52 min
Production ventura film
Swiss Distribution Frenetic Films
World Distribution NewDocs
LOGLINE
The adventurous saga of the Swiss bridge builder Othmar H. Ammann, who moved to America as a young engineer - and created modern icons in New York with his visionary suspension bridges.
SHORT SYNOPSIS
The story of the great Swiss engineer Othmar H. Ammann, who moves away in 1904 and redefines the rules of bridge construction in America - for decades and in a spectacular way. The beginning of motorisation, the post-war years, urbanisation and the consumer society: Ammann is not only in the middle of it, he is with his bridges a dynamic player, an agent of progress - and the belief in it.
director Martin Witz
born in Zurich 1956 – after his degrees in German Literature, Popular Culture and Media Studies he was co-founder of the Production Company Videoladen Zürich – since 1882 freelance writer and filmdirector – also working as story consultant and editor. – Member of the Swiss Film Academy.
After a number of documentaries for television he directed his first feature length documentary for the big screen: 'Dutti der Riese' – the Biography of Gottlieb Duttweiler (a popular Swiss tycoon, founder of Migros).
His internationally most successful documentary so far: 'The Substance – Albert Hofmann's LSD' – the history of LSD.
