›Dear Doctor‹, CH 1977, Direction: Filmgruppe Schwangerschaftsabbruch
Copyright: Cinémathèque Suisse
Lieber Herr Doktor
Si̇nema Transtopia
In 1977, a group of feminists, politically active doctors and filmmakers from the Zurich Film Collective decided to engage in a political debate by making a film. The referendum on the public petition to decriminalize abortion in the first trimester was imminent. ‘Lieber Herr Doktor’ (Dear Doctor) shows documentary footage of an abortion, a panel discussion in Ennenda in the canton of Glarus and portraits of several women who talk about their experiences of abortion. This “intervention film” intended to spark discussion, which it succeeded in doing: according to the members of the collective, it was the most widely shown documentary film in Switzerland at the time. A contribution to a heated debate caught between activism and adverse reactions.
CH 1977, Filmgruppe Schwangerschaftsabbruch, 63 min, OV with ENG subtitles
Introduction: Seraina Winzeler (Cinémathèque suisse)
In English
| Tickets | €9 |
| When | Thu 23.10.25, 12:00 |
| Where |
Si̇nema Transtopia |
Referenzveranstaltung
Zusatzinfos im Slider
Film details
Film data
D: Filmgruppe Schwangerschaftsabbruch
P: Filmkollektiv Zürich
Original format: 16 mm, color & b/w
Screening print: DCP, 63 min, Cinémathèque suisse
Restoration info
The 4K digitization was carried out from 16 mm A/B negatives and from 35 mm image sound negatives. Color correction was performed using a reference copy.
Seraina Winzeler
is a film scholar and archivist, and works as head of education and outreach at the Cinémathèque suisse in Zurich. She is responsible for events, collaborations with universities and film series (most recently “Futur Schweiz – Post/Migration im Film”, with Jenny Billeter and Emanuel Signer), and manages the online platforms “Repérages - Zeitschrift der Cinémathèque Suisse” and “Home – virtuelle Ausstellungen der Cinémathèque Suisse”. As part of her dissertation at the Zurich Film Studies Department, she researches queer and feminist practices of witnessing in documentary film since the 1970s.