First Hand Films

First Hand Films

First Hand Films is an award-winning international sales company, a theatrical distributor in Switzerland’s four language regions and a producer based in Zürich. Run by Esther van Messel since 1998, FHF finds partners, finance and deals with the entire production process. FHF has sold hundreds of licenses worldwide and turned over millions of Euro and its films have won many awards including Emmies, Golden Roses and Oscar Nominations. FHF works with ambitious and accessible projects worldwide, combining intelligence, practical knowledge and experience. Today, First Hand Films have been seen by many millions of people all over the world, in cinemas, on TV and online.

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First Hand Films
  • Sound of Torture

    Directed by Keren Shayo • Documentary • 2013 • 58 minutes

    Since 2006 when Europe closed its borders, human trafficking has burgeoned in Egypt’s Sinai Desert, where Eritrean asylum seekers and refugees heading north to Israel are kidnapped, held hostage, and tortured by Bedouin smugglers demandin...

  • The Story of Looking (Mark Cousins)

    Directed by Mark Cousins • Documentary • 2021 • 87 minutes

    On the day before an operation to save his eyesight, filmmaker Mark Cousins explores what looking means to him, and the role our visual experience plays in our individual and collective lives. In a deeply personal meditation on the power...

  • Summer of Dolphins

    Directed by Shahar Segal • Documentary • 2007 • 82 minutes

    Three dolphins that have been excluded by their pod in the coral reef are set free by their trainer. Maya, who had raised them from birth, realizes that if Lemon, Shandy and Pashosh stay in the pod, they will die.

    Did you know that a do...

  • Thinking Existenz - Ep 01 - Eduardo Galeano

    Directed by Graça Castanheira • Documentary • With Eduardo Galeano • 2013 • 30 minutes

    Ten personalities from diverse social and geographical backgrounds reflect on the world and its future. A portrait in multiple voices of contemporary reality, revealing the deep connections that exist between ...

  • Town Of Glory

    Directed by Dmitry Bogolyubov • Documentary • 2019 • 82 minutes

    With few exceptions, Yelnyans raise their children to become good patriots. They don’t mind the eerie, all-encompassing militarization of society. A heroic Soviet past and a destitute post-industrial present make this provincial tow...

  • 300 Trillion – The Debt Trap

    Directed by Rudolph Herzog • Documentary • 2022 • 80 minutes

    The worldwide mountain of debt is more than 300% of the world's annual economic output. Since the pandemic, debt expansion is out of control. Will the system collapse under its weight?

    The film explores the significance of our debt si...

  • Trust Me

    Directed by Joe Phelps, Rosemary Smith and Roko Belic • Documentary • With Steven Pinker • 2020 • 90 minutes

    Trust Me explores why humankind is attracted to stories about violence, how media outlets capitalize on that, and how we gather and share information and misinformation in the digital age...

  • 24 Hours Jerusalem | 6am Ep 1

    Directed by Volker Heise • Documentary • 2014 • 26 minutes

    The city awakens. Workers from the surrounding areas have to pass the checkpoints. The market opens. Morning prayers are performed.

  • A Way to B

    Directed by Jos de Putter, Clara van Gool • Documentary • 2023 • 98 minutes

    A Way to B is a dansant portrait of several members of the flamboyant, Catalan dance collective Liant La Troca, led by dancer and choreographer Jordi Cortés Molina.

    The film’s hybrid style, in which documentary and dan...

  • When I Was Dead

    Directed by Maasja OomsIngrid Wender • Documentary • 2011 • 59 minutes

    Getting a complete overview of all the important moments in your life in a single moment; experiencing an indescribable lightness and getting a complete overview of all the important moments in your life in a single moment; e...

  • Who Made You?

    Directed by Iiris Härmä • Documentary • 2019 • 80 minutes

    Artificial intelligence is reaching our mental and physical existence like never before in the history of human kind. The film leads us to the world of cyborgs, sex robots and androids. It challenges us to face our values, ethics and reth...

  • Wim Wenders' Story of His Early Years

    Directed by Marcel Wehn • Documentary • With Wim Wenders, Peter Handke, Robby Müller • 2007 • 96 minutes

    In intimate conversations Wim Wenders talks about his sheltered upbringing in post-war Germany. The film follows him on a journey into the past that takes him to Paris, where he lived as a yo...