The Foster Boy
– Switzerland, 1955. The young orphan Max is sent as a foster child and contracted to work for the Bö..
Switzerland, 1955. The young orphan Max is sent as a foster child and contracted to work for the Bösiger family who lives on a farm. His foster parents treat him like a workhorse while their son seizes every opportunity to humiliate him. Playing the accordion is the one thing that is entirely his. But when the new teacher stands up for Max, it only makes a bad situation much worse. The only thing preserving his will to survive is his friendship with Berteli, who was also taken on to work at the farm. Max dreams of Argentina with her: a fantasy world, where allegedly even hayforks are made of silver.
25 Oct 2012
Swiss German
Markus Imboden
Plinio Bachmann (screenplay), Jasmine Hoch (collaboration on screenplay)
Katja Riemann, Stefan Kurt, Maximilian Simonischek, Max Hubacher
The illegitimate orphan child, 12-year-old Max, is sold by the local minister for a basket of food to the Bösiger family, who own a mountain farm. Max' initial hope of finally finding a loving home is brutally shattered: The farmer and his wife treat Max like livestock, and their son Jacob humiliates and abuses him. Only the local teacher notices the child suffering on the farm.
3 wins & 4 nominations.