The streaming alternative from Switzerland
Cinefile is the Swiss online home cinema for a cinephile audience in the digital age. Fans of international arthouse and independent films, classics, newer films and the latest films that could be, get their money's worth. Four and a half years after going live, the online platform features around 700 films, including almost 200 Swiss productions. The streaming selection ranges from upscale entertainment to rigorous art films, and tries to avoid the platitudinous and stale as much as the stultified and pretentious.
The curation principle: class instead of mass
cinefile is operated and curated by a handful of experienced professionals and experts from the fields of film journalism, film production, film studies, digital marketing and information technology.
"The basic idea of cinefile," says founder Andreas Furler, "is that here comes together what we never found at Netflix & Co: Films that were recently shown in arthouse cinemas as well as reprises and classics, so-called "big" cinema as well as "small" cinema.
"We don't care about the common distinction between arthouse and mainstream," Furler continues, "as long as a film fully convinces at least one person in our five-person team and the others don't see any valid reasons, such as unmistakable racism, sexism or glorification of violence, that forbid its publication because we don't want to serve these ideologies. We thus try to apply a generous, diversity-conscious standard and at the same time not to cut back on cinematic quality, admittedly: the daily squaring of the circle.
Our goal is to offer not as many as possible, but as good films as possible on cinefile. Class instead of mass' is our motto. We are aware that every taste is relative. That's why we never select alone. Billy Wilder said that every single viewer in the cinema hall is possibly a fool. But if 1000 of these fools gather in the dark, he continued, then "critical genius" would come together. We like this bon mot to the swarm intelligence, even if our team consists so far of only five cinephile fools. "
Every film with accompaniment and 5 minutes trial period
Because we are aware of the relativity of every selection, we give our streaming audience five free minutes to form their own impression before renting every film.
In addition, we accompany each streaming film not only with catchy plot details, stills, posters and trailers, but also with short reviews and bonus materials, such as we write ourselves or gather on the web. Planned for March 2023 is an expansion of these activities to a small online magazine, so that we can communicate our favorite films even better and national and international events around the film also something broader in the view.
Streaming in single rental: The cheapest Swiss platform for premiere films
Allfilms on cinefile are available for single rental in Switzerland and Liechtenstein with the free registration "Basic" without any subscription obligation. With a rental price of CHF 7.00 for all premiere films, cinefile is the cheapest pay-per-view platform in Switzerland - with a subscription, see below, the rental is even cheaper.
The films are all available in HD and original version with freely selectable subtitles, partly also in German or French dubbed versions. Streaming is easy: If you have a credit card on file, each new movie is available with a click and is up and running in no time. Other payment methods will be installed in March 2023. Already now, you can also initiate an online transfer to cinefile at any time with an email to info@cinefle.ch , which will be transferred to your cinefile account free of charge as freely usable credit.
The way to the big screen
With the Air Play function of Apple TV or a Chromecast plug from Google, you can now already transfer our films to your big TV screen. Personally, however, we prefer the good old super-simple connection with an HDMI cable, which is not subject to external influences such as the fluctuating WLAN connection on site.
The cinefile team is aware that all these remedies are not the last word in wisdom and is working on TV apps with which the range can be accessed directly on the TV sets of the popular brands. The main apps will be available from April 2023.
Take 1, 3 or 5: The even cheaper flat rate subscription for the entire range
cinefile's unique features include the Take1, Take3 and Take5 subscriptions, which offer flat rate tariffs for one, three and five films per month respectively. The single movie costs CHF 6.00 (14% discount) in the Take1 subscription, CHF 4.50 (36% discount) in the Take3 subscription and CHF 3.50 (50%) discount in the Take5 subscription. The subscription can be adjusted to the current film appetite or canceled at the end of each of the individually selectable billing periods. For our subscribers, cinefile is 100% free of advertising at .
Last but not least: The cinefile cinema guide and your personal watchlist
Cinefilesare cinema fans. That's why we have been striving for almost five years to publish the best-structured and most comprehensive cinema guide in Switzerland. With us, you can not only consult the country's complete cinema program sorted by films, times and cinemas and filtered according to your criteria, but also combine all cinema locations according to your needs and save the films you have your eye on in your personal watchlist, which is also automatically matched with your streaming favorites. In contrast to the complete competition including Google, we also provide all program cinemas and open-airs with their and their complete offer - and of course we link you to the ticketing of every single one of the approximately 9000 weekly cinema screenings in Switzerland.
The cinefile newsletter and our presented digital hand
Our weekly newsletter in German and French is not just a PR tool for the sale of our streaming movies, but also an info service with short reviews and hints on our favorite new movies and other events. So it's no wonder that after 4 years it has achieved ratings of between 45% and 57%, which is normal for digital marketing, but a minor miracle.
Any requests? Write to us at info@cinefile.ch. Our digital hand answers you during the week to 99% within 36 hours, on weekends (from Friday 14.00 o'clock - yes we like to finish early on Friday) until Monday 12.00 o'clock at the latest. If we do not meet this deadline, you will have a free movie to good with us from February 1, 2023.
