Peter Liechti – Dedications

Peter Liechti (1951-2014) was a Swiss filmmaker, director, and cinematographer. When he died after a long illness in 2014, he left behind a body of work comprising more than twenty movies, many of which have been shown at film festivals worldwide. Dedications was his last project, started when he was already suffering from terminal illness and never finished. Although Liechtis original idea with Dedications was a trilogy dedicated to Vincent van Gogh, the Swiss writer Robert Walser, and the unknown Sudanese Chief, the rapid progress of his illness caused him to revise this idea. Instead, Dedications became a dense personal project rooted in the filmmakers current state. Although Liechti died in 2014 before he could complete Dedications, his companion and working partner Jolanda Gsponer has assembled the work here in three parts in keeping with his wishes . Part one is a recorded reading by the filmmaker from the diary he kept during his hospital stays. In part two, Gsponer and Liechtis former collaborators present the raw materials for Dedications in an audiovisual installation. Part three is the book, offering the full text of Liechtis diary and illustrated with one hundred film stills and a DVD featuring the films unedited opening. Together, the book and DVD pay tribute to this filmmaker whose contribution to European film culture is of immense value.