The film À bras-le-corps, which had its world premiere in Venice in September 2025, has been nominated in seven of the eleven categories of the Swiss Film Award. Ahead of the awards ceremony in Zurich, this debut feature film by Maria-Elsa Sgualdo, a graduate of the Cinema Bachelor’s programme, will be screened as part of the Nominees' Week in Carouge, on Tuesday 24 March at the Cinéma Bio, in the presence of the director.

Born in La Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland), she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Directing from HEAD – Geneva in 2010, followed by a Master’s in Screenwriting from INSAS (Institut National Supérieur des Arts du Spectacle) in Brussels in 2012. Her first short film, Vas-y je t’aime (2009), was notably screened at Locarno. She followed this with Bam tchak (2010), and then On the beach (2012), which won the Golden Bayard for Best Short Film at the Namur FIFF. Her subsequent short, On ne peut pas tout faire en même temps, mais on peut tout laisser tomber d’un coup (2013), was selected for the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes and featured in some fifty festivals. À bras-le-corps, her first feature-length film, has received seven nominations for the 2026 Swiss Film Award.

Film Synopsis

The film À bras-le-corps plunges the audience into 1943 Switzerland, near the French border. Fifteen-year-old Emma works as a maid-of-all-work for a pastor’s family. After being raped by a visiting journalist, she finds herself pregnant just as she is striving to win a "virtue prize" to fund her nursing studies. Against a backdrop of war and social tension, she must defy her community to forge her own path to freedom.