Ragtag Cinema
10 Hitt Street
Columbia, Mo.
The Film Verliebte Feinde (Enemies in Love) tells the story of one of the most well-known, provocative, and politically connected married couples of 20th century Swiss history. After falling in love after meeting in law school, Iris and Peter von Roten had an unconventional marriage with opposing views on politics, culture, and women's rights. While married, Iris, travelled to Columbia, Mo. to study at the University of Missouri in the early 1930s with plans to write a book when she returned to Switzerland. Her time at MU shaped Iris’s groundbreaking work, which challenged Swiss society decades before women gained the right to vote in Switzerland.
Directed by Werner Schweizer and Katja Früh in 2013, Enemies in Love is a docu-drama, combining interviews with the von Rotens' daughter and dramatic reenactments filmed in Switzerland and mid-Missouri, along with archival footage. Multiple mid Missouri locations—including the University of Missouri campus, Missouri Theatre, Downtown Fulton, and the historic Colt Rail Car trip to Centralia—stand in for Iris’s time at MU. A 25-member production crew included numerous mid-Missouri professionals. The film was selected and screened at Kansas City Film Festival and multiple European film festivals and won the 2014 Zurich Film Award for Documentary Film and the Queens World Film Festival for Best Director for Documentary Feature. It also was a nominee for the 2013 Swiss Film Prize for Best Film.
The screening at Ragtag Cinema is in German language and will use English Subtitles. Run time 1 hr. 51 minutes. Admission is free, but limited seating is available. Tickets can be picked up at the Ragtag Cinema Box Office beginning at noon on the day of the screening - Oct. 22.
Following the screening, SHSMO's Beth Pike, who was the U.S. production manager of the film, will moderate a brief panel discussion with the Honorable Ann Covington, former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri and Fulton resident Margot McMillen, author of The Golden Lane: How Missouri Women Gained the Vote & Changed History.