Behind the cranes, Jean-Stéphane Bron exposes the architecture of inequality

Widely acclaimed for his documentaries examining power and society, the Swiss filmmaker talks to Swissinfo about his first fiction series, The Deal, and a new documentary, Le Chantier, both of which premiered at this year’s Locarno Film Festival. Jean-Stéphane Bron, the Swiss documentary filmmaker, premiered his latest documentary Le Chantier (The construction site), and first fiction series The Deal at the 78th Locarno Film Festival. A giant in his field, Bron explores themes from high-level politics to intimate human stories, probing how the world works. His films are both observations on the human condition and explorations of how society functions. When I meet Bron in Locarno during the August film festival, he suggests a park bench. A midday breeze softens the heat as we join others in the shade nearby, a fitting setting for a filmmaker whose work portrays the powerful and the ordinary side-by-side We begin by talking about Le Chantier, which follows the renovation of the ...