5th EthnoKino Film Festival Bern & Meiringen (9-14 Sept)

For the entire programme and Brochure: Magic 2025 | Ethno Kino

5th EthnoKino Film Festival “Magic”: A Cinematic Pluriverse into the Extraordinary

(9-14 September Cinematte Bern & Kino Meiringen)

This year, the 5th edition of the EthnoKino Film Festival embarks on a cinematic journey into the theme of “Magic”, opening its portals in Bern and Meiringen, two Swiss locales steeped in myth, memory, and alpine mystique. Nestled between the heart of the capital and the dramatic landscapes of the Hasli Valley; home to legends of dragons, wild women, and elemental spirit, the festival invites audiences to explore the invisible threads that connect worlds seen and unseen.

With films arriving from across the globe from the Tundras, the Amazon, and the Australian deserts to the cosmic realms and the Ladakhi Himalayas to India, this year also features a special focus: “An Inquiry into the Pluriverse.” Supported by the Swiss Leading House South Asia, this curatorial thread highlights indigenous filmmakers and visionary works from India, inviting audiences to engage with diverse cosmologies and ways of knowing.

Previously, from May to August, EthnoKino spread its wings to the caves of Cappadocia, where filmmakers from around the world gathered to rediscover the meaning of heritage, magic and mythology. It busked through the bohemian streets of Cluj-Napoca, Romania’s cultural capital, and offered a unique opportunity to a select group of filmmakers during an inspiring retreat held in Ascona alongside the Locarno Film Festival. Their works were celebrated during a red-carpet award ceremony in partnership with the 2291 Foundation.

Through the lens of ethnographic cinema, the festival explores how the magical manifests across cultures in ancestral rituals, sacred landscapes, ecological imaginations, and acts of spiritual resistance. From remote shamanic ceremonies to everyday enchantments hidden in urban life, EthnoKino curates a powerful lineup of films and discussions that reveal the symbolic, the surreal, and the sacred woven into the human experience.

EthnoKino’s Bern and Meiringen edition carries us to become more than a film festival it is a portal for storytelling that bridges mythmaking, magic and meaning, offering a space for wonder, dialogue, and deep reflection in times of transformation.