Biography

The filmmaker, screenwriter and novelist Dominique de Rivaz lives and works in Switzerland and Germany. After finishing her studies of literature and history at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland), she learns Russian and takes part in film shoots in Russia, the Ukraine, Tajikistan and Estonia.

She works as an assistant of various directors, including Alain Tanner and Bakhtyar Kudoynazarov, as well as for the International Film Festival Fribourg (films from Asia, Africa and Latin America), which has a long-lasting influence on her aesthetic choices.

After two highly praised short films, Aélia and Le jour du bain (The Day of the Bath), she shoots several documentary films. In 2004 her first feature film Mein Name ist Bach (Jagged Harmonies) is released, who receives the Swiss Film Award for best feature film and is selected as Switzerland's contribution to the Oscar nominations in 2004 as "Best Foreign Film".

Her second feature film Luftbusiness (Life for Sale) wins the Swiss Film Award 2009 for best actor. In March 2009, Dominique de Rivaz receives the Prix Découverte for her first novel Douchinka (Editions de l'Aire).