Lorenz Merz was born in 1981 in Zurich. After studies in music, painting, and photography, he studied cinema at the Zurich University of the Arts and at the Universidad del Cine de Buenos Aires. His graduation short subject One Day and Nothing, released in 2008, won several awards, including the Silver Leopard at the 61st Locarno Film Festival and the Swiss Film Award 2009 for Best Director. His improvised road movie Cherry Pie (2013) with Lolita Chammah, won several international awards, including the Luna de Valencia Award 2014. As DOP, he participated in several editions of Camerimage. He twice won the Swiss Film Award for best photography for Summer Games (2011) and for War (2014). In 2013, he founded the Zurich production company 8horses. He is also a member of the European Film Academy, the Swiss Film Academy and the Swiss Cinematographer’s Society. He is currently at work on the screenplay for Who/Man.
Soul of a Beast
In a moment of summer madness, Gabriel, a teen-aged father, falls in love with enigmatic, Corey, his best friend Joel’s girlfriend. Deeply hurt by the discovery, Joel decides to take revenge. Gabriel is catapulted into the implacable wilderness of his own heart, where imagination is more real than reality.