Stefan Haupt, 2014, Switzerland, 102 min, In Swiss German and German with English subtitles

In 2007, Ernst Ostertag and Röbi Rapp became Switzerland's first same-sex civil partners after being together for nearly 50 years. Oscar nominated The Circle (Der Kreis) tells their story through a masterful weaving of documentary style interviews and narrative period drama. As Ostertag and Rapp begin to recount their courtship, we are taken back to 1958 where a small group worked underground to publish their magazine and distribute it to over 2000 subscribers, including some in the US. The pair meet at one of the magazine’s famed Autumn Balls where Rapp was performing. What follows is a gorgeous love story, murder mystery, and historical drama, craft-fully detailed by those who lived it. – TIGLFF