A documentary about the acclaimed American writer Patricia Highsmith

The filming of a documentary on the life of one of the greatest noir and thriller authors of the 20th century, the American writer Patricia Highsmith, is also taking place in Ticino (Southern Switzerland). 2021 marked the centenary of the author, who had a special bond with Ticino and the cinema.

Patricia Highsmith became famous when her first novel, "Strangers on a train", published in 1950, was chosen by Alfred Hitchcock to make the film of the same name. From 1982, she spent the last 13 years of her life in Ticino onwards. Firstly, in Aurigeno, in the municipality of Maggia, and then in that of Tegna. She lived most of her life secluded and far from the spotlight, before dying in 1995 in Locarno. Today she rests in the cemetery in the small municipality of Tegna.

Filming of the documentary with the working title "Highsmith", supported by the Ticino Film Commission, began last week at a magnificent location on Lake Maggiore in (Cà di Ferro, Minusio-Rivapiana) and in Aurigeno, Vallemaggia, in the writer's first Ticino home. The documentary is directed by filmmaker and television director Marah Strauch - known for the award-winning documentaries "Vice Versa: Chyna" (2021) and "Sunshine Superman" (2014) - and produced by Los Angeles-based production company Scissor Kick Films (executive producer Eric Bruggemann and Marah Strauch). Over the next few months, the production will continue in various places in upper Ticino linked to the writer's life.

Patricia Highsmith's novels have been the subject of more than twenty film adaptations. Among her most famous characters, and protagonist of 5 novels, we find Tom Ripley brought to the cinema in several famous film adaptions from "The American Friend" (1977) by Wim Wenders to "The Talented Mr. Ripley" (1999) by Antony Minghella through to "Ripley's Game" (2002) by Liliana Cavani.