A street prostitute who became Zurich's most dazzling underground star — then burned out at 26.
She was a muse, model and performer – a star, dazzling and intense. Lady Shiva managed to rise from street prostitution to the top. She lived in the fast lane and died tragically young. Her dream was to become a singer. With her companions, we trace her life during a vibrant time that kindles a yearning and provokes until today. The story of a woman’s meteoric fate and a great dream. An irrepressible desire for freedom in all its beauty and destructive force - and a stirring friendship and love.
Production
Archival footage that feels illegally intimate.
Direction
Baur refuses to sanitize Shiva's chaos.
Editing
Collage style mirrors Shiva's fractured life.
Director
Gabriel Baur
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Director Gabriel Baur spent over a decade securing rights to Shiva's personal archive from competing ex-lovers and estate claimants.
Lady Shiva's 1984 Zurich cabaret scene predates and parallels New York's Club Kids, yet remained virtually unknown outside Switzerland until this film.
CH
