Fabiano is haunted by nightmares. They are a reflection of his life as the heir of his father’s small-scale agricultural business, located in an isolated valley of Southern Switzerland. He owns fifty goats and eight cows and is trying his best to produce the special alp cheese that his hippie parents first made back in the 1980s. But nothing is going the way it should... He is in debt, the alpine hut that he rents for the summer is dilapidated, and the goats cheese business is no longer profitable.

His thoughts wander back to a fatal accident that occurred the previous year to a Macedonian illegal worker. His death is haunting him, because he feels that he is at least in part responsible for it. Fabiano is not exactly in a good place to start a family, but will become a father soon. His girlfriend Eva is expecting – and is hoping to fulfil her dreams of a simple life surrounded by nature and animals. But how can they build a life together in such difficult circumstances?

Dir. Aldo Gugolz - 82min - 2020 - Switzerland

"a critical rethinking of the traditional Heimat documentary (and feature film) that dares to show a different reality of a country struggling between its official imagery and the harsh realities of a global economy." - Visions du Reel

"Aldo Gugolz’s contemplative documentary is not interested in playing detective. Instead, the film patiently observes how this tragedy casts a dark spell over Alpe d’Arena, a small dairy farm nestled in the remote Vergeletto valley...Luxuriating in the beauty of the mountainous landscapes, Cows on the Roof is most compelling as a study of a way of life that has become increasingly precarious and unsustainable." - Guardian

"It shows a place that’s both beautiful and so damned unwelcoming, forcing its inhabitants to sometimes just shrug it all off, repeating the refrain that has marked their entire existence: “That’s how it is.” And the sooner you accept it, the better." - Cineuropa