Flood Disaster (film)

Flood Disaster (German original title ‘Die Flutkatastrophe’) is a 1977 Swiss short by Roger Steinmann. The film was labeled ‘Switzerland's first disaster movie' as depicting a major water dam-break with the subsequent flooding of the metropole of Zurich.[1]

THE FLOOD DISASTER
First poster of The Flood Disaster (original title of Die Flutkatastrophe)
Directed byRoger Steinmann
Produced byRoger Steinmann
Written byRoger Steinmann
StarringReto Müller, Peter Bürgisser
Release date
Sep 17, 1977
Running time
15 min
CountrySwitzerland
LanguageSwiss German

Background

The 1937 installed dam created Switzerland largest artificial lake, the Sihlsee. A failure of the dam could lead, according to studies, to an 8-metre (26 ft) high flood wave through the lower Sihl Valley reaching the Altstadt of the city of Zürich, the biggest city in Switzerland, within 2 hours. This threat has led the City of Zürich to develop, publish and test evacuation plans for the affected areas of the city, and especially the area around Zürich Hauptbahnhof railway station.[2][3][4][5]

Production

15-year high school-student Roger Steinmann was inspired by Zürich's frequent test-alarms in case of a dam-break. With already several years of filming experience in 1977, he realized the 'would-be'-situation of a catastrophe due to an earthquake.

Some music was borrowed from Doctor Zhiwago, and some sound from Earthquake. [6]

Steinmann casted one lead-role with his class-mate, the future mathematic-professor Peter Bürgisser.

Accolades

At the second Swiss Youth Filmfestival (Schweizerischen Jugendfilmtagen) 1977, the film won the first prize.[7][8] For its editing, it won the 'Silver Scissors' by the Union International of Film Amateurs in 1978.[9] Together with an interview with filmmaker Steinmann, the film was aired on Swiss national TV on Nov 4, 1978.[10]

The Flood Disaster at IMDB

References
  1. "Interview with Filmmaker Steinmann". Archived from the original on 2020-01-10.
  2. "Governmental Flood Rescue Plan" (PDF).
  3. "Wenn der Damm des Sihlsees brechen würde | NZZ". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  4. "20min". m.20min.ch. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  5. "Naturgefahren: Wo es in der Schweiz am gefährlichsten ist". Beobachter (in German). Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  6. . 2020-01-10 https://web.archive.org/web/20200110170209/http://www.roger-steinmann.com/images/710_1977-09-13_FLUTKATASTROPHE,_Blick.jpg. Archived from the original on 2020-01-10. Retrieved 2020-04-26. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. . 2020-01-10 https://web.archive.org/web/20200110170136/http://www.roger-steinmann.com/images/710_Aw_1977-09-17_FLUTKATASTROPHE_,_Diploma_Schweizerische_Jugendfilmtage.JPG. Archived from the original on 2020-01-10. Retrieved 2020-04-26. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. . 2020-01-10 https://web.archive.org/web/20200110170211/http://www.roger-steinmann.com/images/710_D_1977-09-17_FLUTKATASTROPHE_MASCHINENTIERE,_Press_Release_Jugendfilmtage_with_Awards.JPG. Archived from the original on 2020-01-10. Retrieved 2020-04-26. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. . 2020-01-10 https://web.archive.org/web/20200110170136/http://www.roger-steinmann.com/images/444_Aw_1978-01-21_FLUTKATASTROPHE_Silberne_Schere.jpg. Archived from the original on 2020-01-10. Retrieved 2020-04-26. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  10. . 2020-01-10 https://web.archive.org/web/20200110170209/http://www.roger-steinmann.com/images/710_1978-11-04_DIE_FLUTKATASTROPHE_,_Interview_Swiss_TV_DRS.jpg. Archived from the original on 2020-01-10. Retrieved 2020-04-26. Missing or empty |title= (help)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.