Narrenbühl (2022)

To what extent does a creative family heritage become a burden - and at the same time helps one to survive? The documentary revolves around intimate insights into "The Fool's Journey" of the Swiss artist Jürg Ernst, himself under the influence of his father, the surrealist painter Hans Ulrich Ernst. And it shows the progress of the daughter and filmmaker Miriam Ernst in search of her authentic voice. In essayistic snapshots Miriam Ernst accompanies her father for eight years in the construction of the bizarre sculpture park "Gnomengarten", which became known throughout Switzerland as a concrete cabaret. After several bad health problems, Jürg Ernst decides to give up his life's dream and closes the gate of his garden forever. This decision culminates in a big happening where the largest sculpture Pluto, the meter-high king of the garden, is destroyed by a digger. This three-generation story continuously weaves between the real and surreal, providing a poetic reflection on the Artist's Life, and the values and compromises such a creative existence requires.