Lionel Baier

Lionel Baier was born in Lausanne in 1975 within a Swiss family of Polish origin. In 1992, he began programming and managing the Rex Cinema in Aubonne. Between 1995 and 1999, he studied at the Arts’ Faculty at the University of Lausanne, then from 2002 to 2021, he was head of the Film Department at the Lausanne’s Cantonal School of Art (ECAL).

In November 2009, he founds Bande à part Films with the following filmmakers: Ursula Meier, Frédéric Mermoud and Jean-Stéphane Bron. Lionel Baier is also Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Swiss Cinematheque.

His first feature film, Stupid Boy, was released in 2004. In 2006, he directs In the East, the first part of a tetralogy that he continues in 2014 with Longwave, presented in competition at the Locarno Festival and nominated four times for the Swiss Film Awards. He continues in 2022 with In the South, presented at the Director’s Fortnight in Cannes and at the Locarno Festival.