«Visually incredibly powerful and touching.»
Brigitte Häring, Swiss Public Radio 2

«For me «Parallel Lives» is a Great Theater of the World, as Calderón would have made it, had cinema already been invented in his time. (...) a great, sensual, passionate image, sound and thought game.»
Hanspeter Stalder, der-andere-film.ch

«Simple idea, great film.»
Aargauer Zeitung

«Haunting and very touching.»
3Sat Kulturzeit

«… a fascinating jigsaw puzzle of recent history in a visually rich condensation. The starting point of (Matter’s) search is the question (…) about the fatefulness of existence and what connects people and what makes them strangers to each other.»
Irene Genhart, cineman.ch

«In «Parallel Lives» (Matter) interweaves the life stories of Melissa, Zukiswa, Li and Michel with rich archive material and elements from his own biography. He composes a fascinating documentary fresco that shows what a strong impact the speed of globalization had on people’s lives.»
Raphael Amstutz, St. Galler Tagblatt

«It is not a history lesson (…), but a reflection on the small in the big, personal twists of fate and the course of the world. A rich, stimulating film, with precise visual and audio documents from numerous sources. And four very different stories that feel strange and familiar at the same time.»
Matthias Lerf, Züritipp/Tagesanzeiger

«An equally exciting and rich journey through time, in which the Basel filmmaker reflects not only on the changing world, but also on coincidence and fate. (...) Matter’s documentary is a great achievement. Following the exciting life stories of the four protagonists and his own biography as well, he masterfully spans a wide net, and makes us impressively aware of how much these (life stories) are connected to historical changes.»
Walter Gasperi, film-netz.com

«The filmmaker interweaves the life stories (of the protagonists) with his own, gaining a personal view on contemporary history and making the interlocking (of historical developments) visible with a clever montage of archive material.»
Jeannette Wolf, Radio Bern RaBe

«A richly layered kaleidoscope that takes the audience on a moving journey.»
arttv.ch

« ... A fascinating journey through the past 58 years.»
Keystone-SDA

««Parallel Lives» artfully and breathlessly interweaves the biographies of five people living on four different continents. (...) Director Frank Matter merges these portraits of his contemporaries into a grand whole that makes you think about life and humanity.»
Natalie Fritz, Media Tip, kath.ch

«... A touching documentary about the vagaries of life .... «Parallel Lives» (...) merges the voices of its protagonists into a powerful chord that spans six decades and four continents ... «Parallel Lives» isn’t wallowing in nostalgia for the past; the film carries the memories into the present and makes them ring. Life may happen in the waiting room of chance (…), but we contribute the soundtrack ourselves.»
Hannes Nüssler, bz Basel

«... An interesting documentary that (...) makes us understand (…) how much we are all part of the same history.»
Ivo Silvestro, La Regione

«… A world collage about the dizzying flow of history that carries us along and conditions us beyond our individual existence, uniting us beyond all our social differences.»
Silvia Nugara, Cultframe

«… A very poetic idea ... very entertaining.»
Raphael Urweider, Kulturstammtisch

«Fascinating material ... An exciting work.»
Eric Facon, Kulturstammtisch

 

Crew & supporters
Director's statement
The film's official website