A hundred villagers, one empty school, and a wild experiment in tiny-town democracy.
Bratsch, located in the Leuk mountains, is an Upper Valais village with a magnificent view of the Rhone Valley. Just one hundred people still lived in the village in 2015. Since the municipality merger with Gampel down in the valley, the school building has stood empty. Something was about to change.
Direction
Wiedmer finds drama in village meetings—no small feat.
Cinematography
Those Leuk mountain shots will ruin city living for you.
Director
Norbert Wiedmer
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Swiss municipal mergers have emptied hundreds of village schools since the 1990s—Bratsch's resistance is increasingly rare.
The film quietly asks whether pedagogical innovation requires urban resources, or if desperation breeds better ideas.
CH
