Biography
Victor Tognola is an internationally known creative who expresses his innovating talents in many fields, radio, journalism, television, cinema and commercials. He begins his career at a very young age in the then famous Monte Ceneri Radio, where, between other programs, he creates "The moon brake", a radio show that many critics salute as the birth of a new world in the radio revue. For what concerns the commercials, he joins the team of the Advertisement American International Agency Mc Cann Erickson in Milan, writes and directs the radio revue A Briglia Sciolta (RAI), collaborates with the newspaper Il Giorno, then he is in charge of the International Market of Gamma Film in Milan, founded by Roberto Gavioli, and finally he creates in Switzerland the Frama Films International, for which he directs and often conceives more than 3000 commercials.
He wins about a hundred of prizes, among which the Grand Award of New York (for a series of commercials for Aprior, Swiss Association of Gold Watches Producers), 12 Lions and one Grand Prix at Cannes International Advertisement Festival. His Araldit (Novartis) commercial is the only one, in the history of commercials, who won both a gold Lion and, 15 years later, the Grand Prix Test of Time Trophy at Cannes Festival. He writes and directs the movie The Great Illusionist, selected in Venice (1982) and in Karlovy Vary, writes and directs the series of cartoons The Most Beautiful Fables of the World (SRG Idée Suisse, ARD, RTL, SRC, Radio Canada) who has been sold in thirty countries, re-writes The Little Donkey and the Wolf (Das Eselchen und der Wolf) for the German Publisher Suhrkamp and ten other fables for the Ravensburger Publisher. He makes Clorofilla from the Blue Sky (SRG Idée Suisse, ARD, RTL, SRC, Radio Canada) based on Bianca Pitzorno's novel (Mondadori) illustrated by Adelchi Galloni. Right now, Barry Films in Hollywood are remaking it with the title Cleo Green.
He holds workshops at the Hochschule für Gestaltung Kunst und Konservierung in Bern and at the SUPSI (University of Applied Sciences and Art) in Lugano. He conducts anthropological researches on the territory, the documentary trilogy Biasca Against (2003-2006) marks a path in the collection and safeguard of the memory of a town. Following this approach, he writes and directs for the three Swiss National Televisions the series Mysterious Switzerland (SF, TSR, TSI - 2007) and Crazy Switzerland in the Hidden Land(2006-2008), The Evil Spirits of Switzerland (RSI 2008), Marlene Dietrich, Paulette Goddard, Erich Maria Remarque (RSI 2011), that has been invited at Moscow Festival. In 2011, after having been presented at the Swiss Embassy in Berlin, it joins the Erich Maria Remarque German Society. Olivier Père chooses the documentary Schmidhauser (SSR-RSI 2012) for the prestigious Histoire(s) du Cinéma Section, at Locarno International Film Festival. Afterwards, he produces and directs the following documentaries: "The food of the Gods" (RSI 2012), "The Machine that came from the future" (SSR/RSI 2013). Since 2014 he's writing and working on Being Together/Together in Life (Coproduction Frama Films-SSR Swiss Radio and Television) that should come out in theatres around the world in 2016. At the same time, he's working on The Story-Teller, The Witch, The Priest, The Secret Avenger, for the prestigious SSR-RSI TV program "Stories".
