Battle of the Queens
Available on Prime Video
Battle of the Queens is a film from and about rural Europe, capturing a timeless cultural event: a series of head-to-head cow fights set in the valley in sunny Southern Switzerland, nestled amongst the Alps. The fights are sudden snorting seesaws, explosions of mass and muscle, archaic and wild spectacles. The film follows three concurrent story lines: an anxious farmer with his beloved contender, a neurotic, unemployed reporter from Zurich coming to find a story, and a gang of adolescent boys on mopeds trying to catch a pretty girl's eye. The festival is a balancing act between fascinating tradition and modernity. This black and white film serves as both an exciting visual treat and a long overdue documentation of a fascinating Swiss tradition.
Starring Beat Brantschen, Andreas Herzog, Déborah Métrailler
Director Nicolas Steiner