“A Happy Family”, an interview with director Jan-Eric Mack and co-writer and actress Anna Schinz

Director Jan-Eric Mack and co-writer and actress Anna Schinz met us during the 60th Karlovy Vary Film Festival (July 3-11, 2026) to talk about the former’s first solo feature, A Happy Family, the first ever Swiss film to run for the prestigious Crystal Globe.

This story of a struggling single mother, covered in debts and juggling several menial jobs which distract her from properly taking care of her two children despite her best efforts, which then leads social services to entrust the kids to a temporary foster family on the other side of the country, owed Anna Schinz the Best Actress Award at the closing ceremony.

A project born out of an image seen during the pandemic

On the origins of the project, Jan-Eric Mack: “It came by just by chance actually. We started doing research after we had seen, during the covid pandemic, people queueing up for food in Switzerland, which is really an image we hadn’t seen before. It’s not something you see very often there, poverty on the street, because it’s something which is mainly hidden, and that’s why we got into this topic, to find out who is affected and why.”

A title that invites reflection on the meaning of family

J.-E. M.: “For us, it was important not to have that title be cynical, but to think about what is a happy family and ask if that image of a perfect happy family really exists, because we firmly believe everybody has a different view on this topic, and there is no family without trouble or a second layer.”

Refusing to judge this struggling mother, or anyone involved

Anna Schinz: “We tried to like capture the whole complexity of this subject, including on the side of the authorities – their work and what they do. It’s not about black or white, it’s not about good or bad, it’s not about blaming anybody: it’s about life, and people, human beings, making mistakes.”

It takes a village: realising she cannot do it all alone

J.-E. M.: “It was important that she realised that she is part of the solution in the end, after she brings her own child into a big conflict of loyalty by overstepping all these borders just to be close to them. We understand her need to be close to them, but at the same time, it’s kind of a selfish act. We always tried to understand and ask ourselves: ‘What would I do? Could I just stay at home and do nothing?'”

“But actually we found out, doing our research, that everybody was searching for their kids, always! That’s what the officials told us, and even if it means becoming a criminal, they just want to have their kids back.”

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