Farewell Paradise: Memories of a broken family. Four sisters and their mother suddenly have to leave their paradise-like family life in the free and prosperous Bahamas of the 1960s, to end up in frugal and narrow-minded Switzerland. What happened exactly? And how do they process all this? Each of the sisters appears to have a very own version of events and deals with them very differently. As in an exciting detective, the life story of this family is gradually unravelled.

Imagine being born in paradise. In a happy family with four girls in the Bahamas in the 60s. In the middle of the full, free prosperity of the American way of life. Then, all of a sudden, you, your mother and sisters end up in the cold, narrow-minded, regulated Switzerland. It happens so suddenly that you and your sisters are divided among foster families for lack of a house and money. Your parents are separated, it's the middle of winter. The departure from paradise could not have been more dramatic.

What happened here? How will each of the sisters handle this trauma? Do they get families themselves and with what partners? And how the hell is the mother going to survive? The lives of others. And at the same time that of our own.

As a suspenseful detective, the life story of this family is gradually unraveled. Each of the sisters appears to have a very own version of the events, dealing with them very differently. Although they share the same genes and history, they still experience the relationship with their parents and with each other completely different. Sonja Wyss, known for her beautiful feature Winter Silence, tells the life story of her family in a seemingly simple but very ingenious way. So pure and so frank that you are completely fascinated, let yourself be carried away and embrace her family entirely.

Farewell Paradise can be seen via Picl and Vitamine Cineville.

World premiere Saturday January 25th 2020 at IFFR.
Selected for the competition section DOK.deutsch at DOK.FEST MÜNCHEN @home 2020.
Selected for the Official Competition, within the section of GENDER AND GENERATIONS FILM of FIDBA 2020 (BUENOS AIRES INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL).
Selected for the Prix de Soleure competition at SOLOTHURNER FILMTAGE 2021.
Selected for the competition for the Best Documentary (Audience Award) at INTERNATIONALES FILMWOCHENENDE WÜRZBURG 2021.

Sonja Wyss in Kunststof -  23 January 2020
Sonja Wyss in De Filmkrant - 23 February 2020
De Filmkrant on Farewell Paradise - 24 February 2020
NRC on Farewell Paradise - 17 October 2020
Sonja Wyss in De Volkskrant - 27 October 2020
De Volkskrant on Farewell Paradise - 28 October 2020
Sonja Wyss in Opium - 5 November 2020

Coproduction EOdocs.
With financial support of NPO Fund, Netherlands Film Fund, CoBO.
Distributor Periscoop Film.

DIRECTOR Sonja Wyss
CAMERA Stef Tijdink, Reinout Steenhuizen
2ND UNIT CAMERA Diderik Evers
GAFFER Maarten van der Pluijm
SOUND Taco Drijfhout
EDITING Katarina Türler
SOUND DESIGN AND MIX Mark Glynne
COLOURGRADING Michiel Rummens
MASTERING Jan Jaap Kuiper - Amator
LINE PRODUCER Merle Bemelmans
GRAPHIC DESIGN Joost Hiensch - Shosho, Tim Hanenkamp
EDITING TV VERSION Matte Mourik
AUDIO POSTPRODUCTION Anthill Sound Design
SOUNDDESIGN AND CO-MIXE Tom Bijnen
SOUNDDESIGN Olmo van Straalen, Denisa Uherová
PRODUCERS BASALT FILM Simone van den Broek, Eline van Wees