Swiss labor drama 'Enjoy Your Stay' premieres in Indonesia after film festival run

Indonesian distributor Falcon has acquired the Berlin Film Festival drama "Enjoy Your Stay," which recently held its Indonesian premiere at Jakarta World Cinema. Co-directed and co-written by Dominik Locher and Honeylyn Joy Alipio, the movie focuses on an undocumented Filipina cleaner named Luz who works at a Swiss luxury ski resort. Mercedes Cabral plays the lead role, and Alexis Manenti also stars in the feature.

Story Origins

Luz faces the risk of losing custody of her children to her husband in the Philippines and takes up extra work. Lured by the promise of legal papers and higher pay from a Swiss gangmaster, she ends up becoming a labor trafficker herself. Locher describes this hidden underbelly as the dirty side of the Swiss postcard. The filmmakers met at the Busan International Film Festival and conducted on-site research at Swiss luxury resorts, speaking with undocumented workers from the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Serbia. Alipio uses a found story approach developed by Filipino artist Armando "Bing" Lao, combining real-life cases into fiction. Close Up Films produced the movie, JBA Production co-produced, and Be For Films handles international sales.

Screenings

Following its Berlin world premiere in February, the movie had its Asian premiere at the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival. The creators also organized a special fully booked screening in Switzerland exclusively for undocumented workers ahead of its public Swiss release on November 22. Meanwhile, Locher and Alipio are already planning their next project titled "Partner Zone," which will follow a Swiss ESG auditor to a gold mine in the Philippines, with scripting to begin in 2027.

Context

Independent international dramas often use festival circuits and regional distributors to reach audiences in different countries and spark conversations about social issues. Films focused on migrant workers draw from real-life labor conditions and underground economies in wealthy nations. Directors frequently collaborate across borders to bring local perspectives to global stories about marginalized communities.