Film production

Films that make research, heritage and innovation understood.

Behind every result there is a researcher who did not give up. Behind every abbey, generations who kept it standing. Behind every great story, a person who had to choose. JCP develops and produces films about these people for the audiences who need to meet them: research users, funders, visitors, buyers, and audiences in cinemas and at home.

Discuss a film project Seven areas of work

Cultural heritage · Research films · Documentaries · Fiction · Teasers · Animation · Multimedia

The Baroque hall of the Abbey Library of St Gall, with carved bookcases, a painted ceiling and a parquet floor. — The Abbey Library of St Gall, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Communication, multimedia and events, film production and distribution company since 1986. JCP was founded in Geneva as a communication, multimedia, film production and distribution company: interactive kiosks for the State of Geneva, research communication for the MaNEP network at the University of Geneva, investor forums and publishing. Today we bring the same discipline to every film we make.

Seven areas of work

From a sixty-second teaser to a feature film for cinema.

The seven areas share one conviction: people remember people. A method, a building or a molecule starts to matter when we meet someone who cares about it. So we begin with the audience, look for the true story and the human beings inside it, and make films that are still worth watching long after the first screening.

Cultural heritage films

The monks and nuns, craftspeople, archivists and musicians who keep monasteries, historic sites and living traditions alive, made with them rather than about them.

Films for visitors, education, television and archives 02

Science films for research consortia

The researchers behind the results, their questions, setbacks and breakthroughs, and the people whose work will change because of them.

Project film, results film, explainer, partner portraits 03

Documentaries

Patient, author-driven films about people facing the questions of our time, developed for television, festivals and cinema.

From treatment to release, with Swiss and European partners 04

Fiction

Saints, scientists and ordinary people in extraordinary times: feature films, series and short fiction.

Swiss majority and minority co-productions 05

Teasers and trailers

Short films that open a door: for a project, a product launch, a funding call, an exhibition or a film in preparation.

30 seconds to 5 minutes, with versions for each channel 06

Animation and explainers

Motion graphics and animated explainers that show what cannot be filmed: a process inside a plant, a molecule, a life in another century.

2D animation, motion design, animated diagrams 07

Multimedia marketing

Video for websites, social media, trade fairs and events, and the photography and presentations that go with it.

Product films, event coverage, social cut-downs Your project

A story to tell?

Tell us what needs to be understood, by whom and by when. We reply with a first assessment and a way forward.

Discuss a film project →

01 · Cultural heritage

Heritage is kept alive by people

An abbey is more than its stones. It is the brother who rings the bell before dawn, the archivist who knows where every manuscript lies, the organist who still plays the music written for that church. When their voices are recorded with care, the place speaks to people who will never visit it.

For abbeys and religious communities, museums, archives, foundations, heritage sites and the research projects that study them.

Research first: historians, archivists and the custodians of each place or tradition are involved from the outset
Filming in sacred and private places only with the agreement of the communities concerned, and on their terms
Intangible heritage: chant, crafts, rituals and know-how recorded with care for those who carry them
Versions for visitors, schools, exhibitions, television and online audiences
Archive masters and documentation for long-term preservation with audiovisual heritage institutions
Swiss locations and access to heritage institutions for co-productions from abroad

Formats: Short heritage films, documentary series, exhibition and visitor films
Deliverable: Finished films with cleared rights, subtitles and an archive master

Aerial view of Einsiedeln Abbey, its church and courtyards, with the village behind. — Einsiedeln Abbey, in the canton of Schwyz.

Engelberg Abbey in a green valley below snow-covered mountains. — Engelberg Abbey, in the canton of Obwalden.

02 · Research consortia

Science films that show the people behind the results

A result becomes credible when we meet the person who found it: the engineer who rebuilt the pilot line three times, the researcher who kept checking the data until it held, the farmer who agreed to try something new. We plan these films with the dissemination work package, so that each one reaches the people who can use the results.

For Horizon Europe, Digital Europe, Eurostars, Interreg and Innosuisse projects. Planned at proposal stage, delivered when each audience needs it.

Project teaser at the start, to explain the challenge and the consortium
Explainer animation of the concept, the method or the technology
Partner portraits and site visits: laboratories, pilot plants, field trials
Results film at the end, addressed to the organisations that can adopt the results
Short versions for social media and events, and recordings of key presentations
Subtitles in the languages of your user groups, accessible versions and the funding acknowledgement required by the grant
Reuse rights agreed in advance, so that every partner can use the films after the project ends

Films are linked to the project’s communication and dissemination plan and to its indicators. Research impact and exploitation →

Timing: Budgeted in the proposal; produced over the project lifetime
Deliverable: A film plan aligned with the work package, finished films, versions and a usage report

A smiling researcher is interviewed in an observatory control room; a sound recordist holds a boom microphone above the camera while colleagues look on. — A researcher interviewed in her observatory’s control room.

A television camera operator with headphones films inside a planetarium and science centre. — Filming in a European science centre.

03 · Documentaries

Documentaries developed with independent directors and producers

For broadcasters, foundations and institutions, and for producers abroad looking for a Swiss partner.

Development: research, treatment, script and a realistic budget
Team: directors, producers and crews chosen for each subject
Financing plan built on the Swiss and European support schemes, broadcasters, foundations and private partners
For co-productions: the Swiss share of the financing, Swiss crews, locations and post-production
Release: festivals, television, cinema, educational and online distribution

Public support is decided by the funding bodies on the merits of each project. JCP prepares the applications and never promises an outcome.

Duration: From a few months for a short documentary to two years or more for a feature
Deliverable: Development package, financing plan and, once financed, the finished film

Black-and-white photograph of a documentary crew in a street, with a video camera, a boom microphone and a director standing on a wall. — A documentary crew at work in the street.

Patience, access and trust

Documentaries are made over time, with the people they portray and never at their expense. We spend the first weeks listening: to the community, the historian, the researcher. Trust grows, doors open, and the film follows what we learn rather than a script decided in advance.

That patience also makes the financing realistic: a well-researched treatment and an honest budget are what funders and broadcasters ask for first.

04 · Fiction

Feature films and series about people who shaped Europe

History is made by people with doubts, weaknesses and courage: a monk saving books while an empire falls, a mother hiding refugees, an inventor nobody believed. Fiction lets audiences live these choices from the inside. We develop and co-produce such stories from Switzerland, with experienced directors and producers.

For directors, screenwriters and producers in Switzerland and abroad.

Stories with roots: history, faith, monastic life, heritage, science and the people behind discoveries
Development: rights and options, treatment, screenplay and a budget that holds
Swiss majority or minority co-productions with partners in other European countries
Financing plan built on the Swiss federal and regional film support schemes, Eurimages, broadcasters, pre-sales and private partners
Swiss crews, locations and post-production
Teasers, pitch material and a festival and distribution strategy from the development stage onwards

Each project is led by an experienced director and producer engaged for the film. Public support is decided by the funding bodies; JCP prepares the applications and never promises an outcome.

Formats: Feature films, series, short fiction
Deliverable: Development package, co-production agreements, financing plan and, once financed, the finished film

A Swiss partner for European stories

Many of Europe’s great stories cross borders: a monastery founded by monks from another country, a scientist who worked in three languages, a pilgrimage route from the North Sea to Rome. Switzerland lies at the centre of these stories, and a Swiss co-producer brings access to Swiss funding, locations, institutions and crews.

JCP assembles the Swiss side of such productions and, where the story is Swiss, leads them with experienced partners.

On a film set, a director holding the script explains a scene to two actors in historical costume, one wearing a crown. — A director with his actors on the set of a costume drama.

05 · 06 · 07

Teasers, animation and multimedia for companies and institutions

Short formats that do one job well: explain an offer, open a conversation or bring an event to people who could not attend. They follow the same rule as our market work: the message is written in the buyer’s language, not the engineer’s.

Illustration: six storyboard frames for heritage, science, documentary, teaser, animation and multimedia, above a timeline that ends in a highlighted point.

Teasers and trailers

Open the door

Project and product teasers
Trailers for films, exhibitions and events
Pitch videos for investors and funding calls

Animation and explainers

Show the invisible

Animated explainers of processes and technologies
Motion design and animated diagrams
Animated maps and timelines for heritage and history

Multimedia marketing

Reach every channel

Product and application films for websites
Trade-fair loops and event coverage
Social cut-downs, photography and presentation material

Method

From the brief to the film in use

Scope, deliverables, rights and fees are agreed in writing before production begins.

Brief and evidenceWho must understand what, and what should they do next?Audience map · key messages
Story and scriptThe people, their story, and the audience who needs it.Treatment · script · storyboard
Team and financingThe right director, crew or studio, and the means to work well.Team · budget · financing plan
ProductionFilming, animation, editing, sound and music.Approved cut · cleared rights
Release and reuseWhere the film will be seen, by whom, and for how long.Versions · subtitles · usage report

Principles

What every film we deliver includes

Evidence before images

Facts checked with researchers, historians or the client’s specialists before the script is approved.

Respect for people and places

Consent from the people filmed and the custodians of each place; their dignity comes before the shot.

Rights cleared

Music, archive material, images and appearances cleared for the agreed uses, territories and duration.

Subtitles and accessibility

Subtitles in English, French and German as standard, other languages on request, and accessible versions where needed.

A version for each channel

Formats for the web, social media, events, broadcast and cinema, decided before filming rather than after.

Clear scope and terms

Deliverables, responsibilities, timing, rights and fees agreed in writing. Funding decisions remain with the funders.

From Central Switzerland

A Swiss base for films made across Europe.

JCP is established in Schindellegi, in the canton of Schwyz, between Zurich, Zug and Lucerne. We work in English, French and German, with directors, producers, animators and crews in Switzerland and abroad, and with the heritage institutions and research organisations whose work our films explain.

About JCP →

Map of Switzerland: Schindellegi lies on the south side of Lake Zurich, between Zurich, Zurich Airport, Zug and Lucerne.

Every film begins with a person and a story. Tell us yours.

Discuss a film project