The mysterious Mister Loertscher

Not less then 60 films from one Mr. A. Loertscher are part of the collection of 9.5mm films in the Lichtspiel. His films are from a such variety that the curiosity to learn more about him becomes greater by every film title I read. Among his films are classical family and travel films but also narrative and experimental films as well as test films such as “Reststücke/Kameraübung” (Remnants/camera excercise) or “Farbig – selber entwickelt” (Colored – self developed).

So, who was Mr. A. Loertscher?

The films came to the archive via a third party before we did start giving those people a questionnaire in order to get as much information as possible about the films, the filmmaker and the originating context. Among the films are no written documents, not even a clue to a full name or place of residence.

During the initial research for this project I did some reading about 9.5mm film an filmmakers in Switzerland. Literature on this is poor, but fortunately there were committed people in the past, such as Ernst Wolfer, who took the recording of history into their own hands. He self-published in the early 1990s two booklets about amateur film in Switzerland: “Filmen damals… Beiträge zur Geschichte des Amateurfilms” (Filming at the time… Contributions to the history of amateur film) and “Die 9,5mm-Bewegung in der Schweiz. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Amateurfilms” (The 9.5mm movement in Switzerland. Contribution to the history of amateur films). In the latter, I read in the section about the 9.5mm Film Club of Bern that in 1965 a certain Adolf Lörtscher was elected as their president. Could it be that Adolf Lörtscher and A. Loertscher are the same person, despite the different spelling of the family name?