HOMELAND

In 2002, the organizers of the celebrated Swiss National Exhibition invited scientists and artists from faraway countries to come to Switzerland. They were asked to travel around Switzerland on their own for three weeks to gain an impression of the country and its people. Their experiences and encounters may confirm certain clichés but offer surprises where least expected.

A group of five distinguished people  a writer, a filmmaker and three scientists  from five far-flung countries in the South and East spend three weeks travelling around Switzerland on an official mission, so to speak, to become acquainted with the country. To them, ours is a strange world which they see through the eyes of their own world. In their view of us we recognise reflections of ourselves which at times are, at others are not, flattering.

The film invites viewers to join an amusing, profound and provocative expedition through our country. The Palestinian filmmaker Ula Tabari, Indian writer Ramachandra Guha, Senegalese sociologist Ndeyabate Cissokho, Russian political scientist Andrej Riabow and Filipino toxicology professor Romeo Quitano lead the way. They are guides in a strange land.