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Gossliwil

Switzerland 1985. 16, colour, 5 x 45 min.
 

The village of Gossliwil has 160 inhabitants, mostly large farmers, small farmers and part-time farmers. Hans Stürm and Beatrice Michel stayed in Gossliwil from autumn 1982 till spring 1984. "Gossliwil": five essays on rural culture and ecology, work, ownership and time.

I: Arrival and reflection on a sentence: "Seldom does a farmer die irreconciled."

II: the neighbours, the Althaus family and their fight for survival. Family business, 10 hectars of land, 14 dairy cows; "We small farmers are envious even of the problems of others."

III: The farmer as entrepreneur - as survivor? The majority of people living today are farmers: "Primary production never amounted to much."

IV: Large family: We are a world to ourselves, dominated by rural, patriarchal standards."

V: Arrival and departure: On freedom within fences and boundary markers, on being a local or an outsider.

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