Swiss filmmaking duo follow Kurt Cobain’s afterlife to cheers in Rotterdam

With First Days, Kim Allamand and Michael Karrer achieved the rare goal of creating a highly conceptual experimental film that also seduces a general audience. They spoke to Swissinfo right after the premiere at Rotterdam Film Festival. At the end of Gus Van Sant’s Last Days (2005), the Kurt Cobain look-alike character leaves this mortal coil. After a self-inflicted death, the spirit of the legendary rock star seems to escape his body, drifting away into a dimension the camera can’t capture anymore. This haunting depiction of the grunge icon venturing into the beyond inspired Swiss filmmakers Kim Allamand and Michael Karrer to team up and co-direct their experimental feature film First Days, which is coming hot off the heels of a successful world premiere at International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). “We thought the ending of Last Days could be a good departure point for ours,” Allamand, joined by Karrer over Zoom, recalls as IFFR draws to an end. “We wanted to show the first ...