Luisa Zürcher | Ich bin nicht sicher

After being diagnosed with a tumour in the abdomen, doubt sets in: are Luisa’s stomach pains real or is she imagining them? She isn’t sure. In her short film Ich bin nicht sicher, director Luisa Zürcher offers a vulnerable and humorous exploration of her experience with the disease and its aftermath. The film has garnered an array of positive reception, notably through winning the prestigious Audience Award at the Solothurner Filmtage 2026, as well as the Swiss Culture Award for Best Animated Film 2026. Luisa was kind enough to sit with us for an interview about her perspective and creative process.

Interview

Eugénie Bouquet (EB): Luisa, your film shows a very painful and uncertain phase of your life, could you tell us more about what made you want to turn this experience into a film?

Luisa Zürcher (LZ): I was hospitalised a few years ago to remove some tumours from my belly. It was my first time there and I found the hospital to be such a fascinating place, almost like it was its own cosmos. The people there were always really interested in my job as an artist and an animator, and it felt like our two worlds were colliding. Even at the time I already started to write down some of our conversations we had, knowing that I wanted to make something out of it. I thought there was a lot of interesting material there. 

EB: The film mixes comedy and painful memories very elegantly. How did you decide on the kind of balance that you wanted between these elements?

LZ: It was a really long process. In the beginning, I only wanted the film to be funny, because I was really afraid of being too self-pitying. But then I started to do a storyboard, to collect all those memories and situations that I wanted to put in the film, and that made me remember a lot of bad memories that I had just blacked out on. So I thought I had to include them, because it wasn’t just a funny experience, it was also bad. And it was a balance to find between these two tones, but I think in the end I managed it quite well.

EB: One of the specificities of your film is that you didn’t work with voice actors, the only voice in the film is your own. Would you like to tell us more about that creative decision?

LZ: I really wanted the film to feel like a diary. I talked to my sound designer about this idea and he wasn’t so sure, but I ended up recording it on a Sunday afternoon while I was hungover. When we put it under the animatic, we really liked it. It felt right, very personal. It would have felt strange if an actor had interpreted these voices. Also because I wanted to poke fun at the Swiss-German way of making small talk, of the very relatable way that we speak to each other. And I think sometimes, when I show the film abroad, that’s an aspect of the humour that gets lost in translation, because it’s very Swiss.

EB: On top of that, you decided not to have voice-over at all for some of the more vulnerable moments.

LZ: Yes, I made that decision because I was already talking with my own voice, so I didn’t want the film to have too much pathos in these specific sentences. I also think sometimes that people can relate a bit more to writing. And aesthetically, I thought it looked really cool.

EB: And could you tell us a bit more about why you chose to have anthropomorphic characters in your film instead of human bodies?

LZ: I didn’t really do a character design phase, it just happened in the process of drawing these people and drawing myself. I’ve always liked doing these metamorphosis between people and animals. Partly it’s my style, but I think it also take away from the tragic aspect of the story. It makes it a bit lighter to have those very sweet, animalistic characters.

EB: Thank you for your time, Luisa. To conclude, would you want to tell us more about what the future looks like for you, maybe about your next project?

LZ: Yes, I only have a topic for now, it’s really not a concept at all yet. But the topic is patience or impatience. It’s a fascination that I discovered when I was in Japan for two weeks. There were those long queues and everyone was so patient with them. And I discovered that I really wasn’t, that I’m really impatient with so many things, which is very ambivalent for someone who makes animation films. I don’t know what form it will take up yet, but I’m excited to make something that’s not entirely about me.