He was born in 1961 and grew up in Basel, switzerland. in 1981 he lived for a year in Brazil where he worked for ΤV Globo in the area of music films. in 1982 , he received a guest-scholarship at the california Art institute in san Francisco. From1984 to 1990, he attended the German Film and television Academy Berlin, where he made various short films and his first feature length film. He is founder of the production company Νeapel Film in Basel, switzerland,which has produced a number of swiss short films and Schwietert/s own films in international co-production. Schwietert is today one of the most acknowledged filmmakers in the field of music documentary. His films have received a large number of awards internationally.They have been distributed in countries all over Europe and America and reached audiences of several hundred thousand viewers. He is currently living in Berlin. Besides his work as a director and producer, he also teaches documentary classes in Germany and Switzerland.
Filmography
1986 Das Τopolino Project/The Topolino Project (short fiction)
1987 Tapez 6-15 code corba (short fiction)
1988 Fualni 88, The Last ten Days of a campaign (TV)
1991 Sprung aus den Wolken/Fallen from the sky (fiction)
1992-1995 Lost in Music (several segments of TV series)
1994 Der Schatten ist lang/The Long shadow (TV)
1996 Atickle in the Heart
1998 Im Warteraum Gottes/God’s Waiting-room (TV)
2000 Voyage oriental (TV)
2000 El Acordeon del Diablo/The Devil’s Accordion
2001 Liebeslieder
2003 Das Alphorn/the Alphorn story
2004 Schwarze Madonna/The Black Madonna (TV)
2004 Accordion tribe
2007 Big Band Poesie (TV)
2007 Heimatklange/Echoes of Home