Feature Filme
Mad Heidi
In einer dystopischen Schweiz, die unter die faschistische Herrschaft eines bösen Käsetyrannen (Casper Van Dien) gefallen ist, lebt Heidi (Alice Lucy) das reine und einfache Leben in den Schweizer Alpen. Großvater Alpöhi (David Schofield) tut sein Bestes, um Heidi zu beschützen, aber ihre Sehnsucht nach Freiheit bringt sie bald in Schwierigkeiten mit den Schergen des Diktators. Das unschuldige Mädchen verwandelt sich in eine schlagkräftige weibliche Kampftruppe, die sich aufmacht, das Land von den wahnsinnigen Käsefaschisten zu befreien.
MAD HEIDI ist ein Action-Abenteuer, das auf der beliebten Kinderbuchfigur Heidi und dem allerersten Swissploitation-Film basiert.
Produktionsland
Schweiz – 2022
Laufzeit
01:33:00
Genre
Swissploitation
Regie
Johannes Hartmann, Sandro Klopfstein
Cast
Producer: Valentin Greutert
Directors: Johannes Hartmann, Sandro Klopfstein
Written by: Sandro Klopfstein, Johannes Hartmann, Gregory Widmer, Trent Haaga
Director of photography: Eric Lehner
Main actors: Alice Lucy, Casper Van Dien, Max Rüdlinger, David Schofield
Johannes Hartmann, Sandro Klopfstein
For many years we have had a passion for the exploitation cinema of the 1970’s: B-movies that shamelessly combine current pop culture trends, niche genres and lurid content. This gave rise to such absurd sub-genres as „Blaxploitation“, „Nunsploitation“ and „Naziploitation“. So we thought it was about time for a „Swissploitation“ film!
The children’s book character Heidi was the perfect starting point for this. Published in 1880, the story about the little girl from the alp is one of the world’s best-selling books of all time.
The clichés of the so-called „Heimatfilm“ fit this perfectly. This genre, which emerged after the Second World War, offered viewers light entertainment mostly set against a kitschy and romanticized Alpine setting.
To give the film a gritty and bloody exploitation twist, we shorthandedly transformed what should have been a direct-democratic Switzerland into a nasty dicatorship.
In this sense, „Mad Heidi“ is a journey through the sub-genres of the exploitation film. From Heimatfilms à la „Heidi“ or „Ueli der Knecht“ (1954), to dystopian future films such as „Mad Max“ (1979), to women in prison films in the style of „Black Mama, White Mama“ (1973) or „Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion“ (1972), martial arts films like „The 36th Chamber of Shaolin“ (1978) or various Kung Fu films by the legendary Hong Kong studio Shaw Brothers, and finally „Female Revenge“ films like „Coffy“ (1973) with Pam Grier or the Japanese classic „Lady Snowblood“ (1973).
However, like any good genre film, we wanted to offer more than just entertainment and wild action. In a grotesque way, the film also tells something about the oppression of minorities and nationalism.
What is also special about Mad Heidi is the financing and distribution. Around two million euros were organized for this film via crowd-investments, with fan investors directly participating in the revenue. Also, the film will initially be released on December 8, 2022, exclusively on the madheidi.com website. We want to prove that there are alternative production and distribution methods for independent filmmakers.
