About Frame Film

Swiss-Kurdish Film Production Since 2012

The Company

Frame Film GmbH was founded in 2012 by Mano Khalil. The company is based in Bern, Switzerland. Frame Film develops and produces feature films, documentaries, and international co-productions for cinema and television.

Frame Film primarily produces films that put people and their stories at the centre. Frame Film chooses unexpected perspectives, challenges common clichés, and confronts preconceived opinions. Social and political themes are not presented in a complicated or superficial way, but illustrated through the reality of the protagonists. Frame Film seeks dialogue with and closeness to its protagonists.

Mano Khalil - Director and Producer

Mano Khalil

Director, Screenwriter & Producer

Mano Khalil is a Kurdish-Swiss filmmaker born in Syrian Kurdistan, who currently resides and works in Switzerland. From 1981 to 1986, he studied History and Law at Damascus University in Syria. Subsequently, from 1987 to 1994, he pursued studies in Fiction Film Direction at a university in the former Czechoslovakia. Between 1990 and 1995, Khalil worked as an independent film director for Czechoslovakian Television and later for Slovakian Television. Since 1996, he has been based in Switzerland, working as a director and producer. In 2012, he founded Frame Film Production in Bern.

"As a student, I spent almost all my money on going to the cinema. In Syria, of course, I could only see films that passed the regime's censorship. In film, you can make your own wishes, fantasies, and dreams come true. I wanted that too. And I dreamed of telling the story of my people through films."

— Mano Khalil

Filmography

2025/26 Moments 100 min. Feature Film (in production)
2025 Lia Wälti – A Portrait Documentary (in production)
2021 Neighbours DCP 124 min. Feature Film
2018 Hafis & Mara 88 min. Documentary Film
2016 The Swallow 102 min. Feature Film
2014 Displaced (Video Installation) Video Installation (2014–2020)
2013 The Beekeeper 107 min. Documentary Film
2010 Our Garden of Eden 35mm 97 min. Documentary
2009 My Prison, My Home 33 min. Documentary
2007 David the Tolhildan 54 min. Documentary
2005 Al-Anfal 52 min. Documentary
2003 Colorful Dreams 52 min. Feature Film
1999 Triumph of Iron Beta SP 31 min. Feature Film
1995 Kino-Ocko (Kino Eye) 16mm 20 min. Documentary
1992 The Place Where God Sleeps 16mm 30 min. Documentary
1990 My God 35mm 20 min. Feature Film

Awards (Selection)

2025
Ostana Award Neighbours
2025
Best Camera – Amed Film Festival Neighbours
2023
Grand Prix Maestrale – Babel International Film Festival, Cagliari Neighbours
2023
Norwegian Film Critics Award – Haugesund IFF Neighbours
2023
Best Movie – Amazigh International Film Festival, Agadir Neighbours
2022
Grand Prix – Best Feature Film, Mons International Film Festival Neighbours
2022
Best Director – Rotterdam Arab International Film Festival Neighbours
2022
Audience Award – Toronto TJFF Neighbours
2022
Best Movie – Hollywood Arab Film Festival Neighbours
2022
Best Director Award – Seoul International Children Film Festival Neighbours
2022
Jury Award – Best Movie, META Film Festival, Dubai Neighbours
2021
San Francisco Film Critics Award – Best Movie Neighbours
2021
Berner Filmpreis – Best Feature Film Neighbours
2021
Best Script Award – Red Sea International Film Festival Neighbours
2021
European Values Award – European Parliament, Olympia IFF Neighbours
2021
Best Movie – Gangneung Film Festival, South Korea Neighbours
2024
Best Movie – Düsseldorf Kurdish Film Festival Neighbours
2018
Würdigungspreis der Stadt Freistadt, Austria Hafis & Mara
2017
Best Film – Kurdistan International Film Festival, Erbil The Swallow
2016
Preis der Stadt Duhok – Duhok International Film Festival The Swallow
2016
Euroregio Jury Award – Bozen Film Festival The Swallow
2016
Microcosmos Jury Award – Lessinia Film Festival The Swallow
2014
Bozner Filmtage – Best Documentary Film The Beekeeper
2013
Prix de Soleure – Solothurn Film Festival The Beekeeper
2013
VIKTOR DOK.deutsch Award – DOK.fest Munich The Beekeeper
2013
Audience Award – Freistadt Der Neue Heimatfilm The Beekeeper
2011
CIVIS European Media Award – Best Film, Brussels Our Garden of Eden
2011
Berner Filmpreis – Best Documentary Film Our Garden of Eden
2001
SSA Prize (Société Suisse des Auteurs) for Screenplay Development
1993
Best Film – Augsburg Film Festival The Place Where God Sleeps

...and over 70 more awards