Lucky Jack - Three Attempts to Stop Smoking

Colour, 35 mm
Switzerland, 2003, 88 min
Section: Documentary Competition

Synopsis

Filmmaker Peter Liechti smoked for 30 long years. This film presents an unusual method of kicking the habit. The determined man sets out on a hike from Zurich to his home town of St. Gallen, where he first fell victim to his addiction. He is prepared to repeat the journey (on foot and by rail) until he is successful; this happens the third time around. His original intention of discovering the source of his dependence through walking (and thereby beating it) gradually became a search for roots, for a lost dialogue with home and country. The director dedicated his “hikers’ road movie” to all smokers and all those addicted to anything whatsoever. This documentary journal, replete with self-irony, links shots of the journey – representing the restless view of the traveller – with archive footage (of parents; Siberia, Africa).

About the director

Peter Liechti (b. 1951, St. Gallen) studied art history at university in Zurich from 1971 to 1979, and is a certified drawing instructor. Since 1986 he has been a freelance filmmaker: screenwriter, cameraman and director. His films have taken awards at various festivals, including Locarno, Turin, Leipzig, Saarbrücken and Solothurn. Selected filmography: Ausflug ins Gebirge (1986), Kick That Habit (1989), A Hole in the Hat (1991), Martha’s Garden (1997), Lucky Jack- Three Attempts to Stop Smoking (2003), Namibia Crossings (2004).