Time of Closure

Mehdi Sahebi

Giuseppe Tommasi’s life was somewhat ill-fated from the start. As a child of Italian migrants in Switzerland, he was given to adoptive parents who failed to provide a loving home. A handsome and intelligent character, he never managed to find his place in society, abandoned his career, left his wife and children and spiralled into drug addiction. At the age of 44, clearly emaciated from aids and cancer, he will spend the last months of his life at the Zurich Lighthouse hospice. Facing death he begins to reflect on his life, his family and starts to question himself and his actions.

By way of intimate cinematography, director Mehdi Sahebi details Giuseppe’s brutally honest and relentless way of dealing with his own past, of coming to terms with it and providing answers for his children. Refreshingly, Giuseppe Tommasi’s accounts are completely devoid of self-pity and manage to purvey a sense of wisdom, which is rendered all the more powerful by his clarity of mind and his startling sense of humour.

«Time of Closure» is more than a portrait of a man on the brink of death, but a challenging contemporary document that is both moving and illuminating.

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Cast: Giuseppe Tommasi
Producer: Pascal Traechslin (Cineworx Filmproduktion GmbH)
In Cooperation with: Swiss Television, Migros Culture Percentage, Zurich Lighthouse Foundation, Federal Office of Public Health
Script: Mehdi Sahebi
Camera: Mehdi Sahebi
Editor: Aya Domenig, Mehdi Sahebi
Music: Daniel Hobi
Sound: Mehdi Sahebi
Genre: Documentary
Countries: Switzerland 2006
Runtime: 63 Minutes
Available formats: DVD
Language: German
Theatrical Release
German Switzerland: March 1st, 2007
French Switzerland: February 20, 2008
Festivals & Awards Queer Lisboa, 2010; Saint-Petersburg «Time To Live»-Film Festival, 2008; RIDM, Montréal, 2007; Leeds International Film Festival, 2007; Festival Les Ecrans Documentaires, Arcueil, 2007; Film Festival for Schools, Lucerne, 2007; DOCNZ, Competition, Auckland, 2007; São Paulo International Documentary Film Festival, 2007; Mar del Plata International Film Festival, 2007; Solothurn Film Festival, 2007; Belfort International Film Festival EntreVues, Winner «Grand Prix du Jury» + «Prix du Public», 2006; Vienna International Film Festival, 2006; Locarno International Film Festival, Winner «Semaine de la Critique», 2006.
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