ECAL MASTERCLASS – Richard Linklater
30.09.2026
IKEA Auditorium, ECAL

Capable of moving from independent film to mainstream comedy, from musicals to animation, Richard Linklater has, for more than thirty years, been developing a body of work deeply rooted in American culture, in which formal experimentation remains inseparable from a great freedom of tone.

Born in Texas in 1960, Richard Linklater established himself in the early 1990s as one of the key figures in American independent cinema. With Slacker (1990) and then Dazed and Confused (1993) — which became a defining film of a generation — he crafted a cinematic style attuned to groups, conversations, and the passage of time, while revitalizing the forms of the American coming-of-age narrative. This artistic exploration runs through the "Before" trilogy — Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and Before Midnight (2013) — which follows the same characters over nearly twenty years and makes duration and dialogue the very fabric of the narrative. It finds another form of culmination in Boyhood (2014), filmed over twelve years with the same cast, a unique exploration of aging, childhood, and the transformation of the body.

This event is a collaboration with the Cinémathèque suisse and is part of a retrospective dedicated to the work of Richard Linklater. The retrospective runs from September 23 to October 31, 2026. Following his masterclass at ECAL, the Cinémathèque suisse will host the director on September 30 at 8:30pm for a screening of his latest film, Blue Moon (Berlinale, 2005). The filmmaker will also present Boyhood on October 1 at 8:00pm.

In collaboration with the Cinémathèque suisse.

Discussion moderated by Paolo Moretti.

Photo credits © Vicente Paredes