Sun, sea and naked people. The nudist films of the Swiss Werner Kunz

Anyone who wanted to watch naked people in films from the mid-1950s onwards preferably attended the screening of a naturist film by Werner Kunz (1926–2018). The pioneering works of the Swiss self-made filmmaker were largely dedicated to the performance of nudists (less of nudists) in their native habitats – mainly during summer sports and games on land and in water. At their time, the productions were the (legal) ultimate when it came to cinematic nudity. Banned by some film censors as outgrowths of immorality, Kunz’s films were shown elsewhere as instructive documentaries about an alternative way of life. The visual value of the unclothed bodies naturally remained untouched by the documentary framing, and so over time Kunz’s nudist films pushed the boundaries of what was permitted by the censors.
For a decade, Kunz had a monopoly on cinematographic representations of nudity with his films – for which he was personally responsible for the script, production, direction and exploitation. As part of constantly organized special performances, he showed his works in larger and smaller multi-purpose halls in Swiss cities and towns. From the beginning of the 1960s they were also shown regularly in cinemas. Last but not least, his productions celebrated great success abroad. (Which Swiss film can boast of a three-and-a-half-month running time in a New York cinema?)
In the first detailed presentation of the forgotten Swiss film pioneer Werner Kunz, the Zurich film scholar Matthias Uhlmann presents all of the surviving films with regard to their production, exploitation and reception . Plot summaries and numerous still images illustrate the two dozen nudist works (including four feature films); In addition, extensive images from the director’s private archive illustrate the extensively researched book. In interviews that the author conducted with the filmmaker, the pioneer of sexual freedom in international film himself has his say: as the “father of all this”.