![A copy of the feature film "The Last Chance" is transported from Zurich to the USA in 1945, where it brings international fame to the Swiss company Praesens-Film.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/filmrollen-praesens-transport-nach-ubersee-300x225.jpg)
Between avant-garde and Hollywood
Praesens-Film, founded in Zurich in 1924, is the oldest film company still in existence in Switzerland. Since the late 1920s, it has been producing films that tell a piece of Swiss cultural history and reflect the times, politics and society.
![Lazar Wechsler as a student, Zurich before 1919.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/lazar-wechsler-1919-300x239.jpg)
Of avant-garde films and taboo subjects
Modern trailer for the film "Frauennot - Frauenglück" from 1929. YouTube / filmo
Hollywood-Flair
![Director Leopold Lindtberg (right) and Heinrich Gretler as Werner Stauffacher during the shooting of the film "Landammann Stauffacher" (1941) in the film village on Lake Lauerz.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/leopold-lindtberg-rechts-und-heinrich-gretler-gbe-165926-lm-179933-296x300.jpg)
![Cinema poster for the 1955 film "Heidi and Peter", shown in the USA.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/heidi-und-peter-plakat-dig-36807-lm-111579-119x300.jpg)
Close-up. Making Swiss film history
Praesens-Film AG celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2024. Switzerland’s oldest surviving film company has an eventful past that has taken it all the way to Hollywood. The exhibition shines a spotlight on the people who wrote Swiss film history in front of and behind the camera and shows the extent to which the silver screen has always reflected the zeitgeist.