Draft:Mad Heidi

Mad Heidi is Swiss black comedy splater film directed by Johannes Hartmann and Sandro Klopfstein and released in 2022. The film was entirely crowdfunded.

The movie stars Alice Lucy in the title role, Casper Van Dien as the villain President Meili, as well as David Schofield as Heidi's grandfather Alpöhi. Dubbed as the "World's First Swissploitation Movie", it is a parody of the Swiss children's storybook character Heidi, written by Johanna Spyri but now set in a dystopian Switzerland where Heidi exacts revenge on the Swiss dictator after her boyfriend Peter was killed.

Cast

 * Alice Lucy as Heidi
 * Max Rüdlinger as Kommandant Knorr
 * Casper Van Dien as President Meili
 * David Schofield as Alpöhi
 * Almar Sato as Klara
 * Kel Matsena as Goat Peter
 * Rebecca Dyson-Smith as Lutz
 * Leon Herbert as Isaac
 * Pascal Ulli as Dr. Schwitzgebel
 * Katja Kolm as Fräulein Rottweiler
 * Julia Föry
 * Milo Moiré

Development
In an early stage of the idea, the director Johannes Hartmann got in touch of the "Iron Sky" producer Tero Kaukomaa to discuss the idea of financing a film via crowd investing. The production team spent three days shooting the first promo teaser in August 2017. The teaser starred Jessy Moravec in the title role. After shooting the trailer, the film should be financed via Heidi Bonds that can be exchanged into various perks (such as merchandise, extra roles etc.). Later on the project was presented in several places and at conventions (such as Herofest, Fantasy Basel, Festivals in Germany etc.) in order to promote a possible crowdfunding solution. Decisions werde made to change to a share based system, which was presented during the script meeting in February 2020 to some investors. In a concept called fan-powered content creation, investors can participate on earnings. In 2020 during a presentation of the concept at the Zurich Film Festival a seed capital of about 250,000 CHF were given to the creators by so-called Heidi Ambassadors. After the official launch of an investment call eventually 538 people from 19 countries invested 2 million Swiss Francs and will participate directly in the film’s revenue. Blockchain technology is used to distribute earnings directly to the investors.

Filming
In an elaborate casting process, the role of Heidi has been recast with Alice Lucy in August 2021. Casper van Dien was announced for the role of the mad Swiss dictator in the same month. Location scouting was completed by July 2021, one filming location was the Ballenberg Open-Air Museum.

Principal photography took place during 28 shooting days in September and October 2021. The official teaser trailer was released on September 1, 2022. The theatrical trailer was released on October 12, 2022.

Release
The film released on November 24, 2022 in movie theaters Switzerland, Germany, Austria and France. World-wide release was online exclusively on the movie's own website on December 8, 2022.

Critical response
On September 11, 2022 the movie won the Audience Award of the BIFFF (Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival). As of May 2023, it has 100% fresh rating based on 5 reviews.