The Zurich Film Festival will celebrate its 22nd edition from 24 September to 4 October under the motto “Dream Big”, with a programme of 133 films and a record 21 Swiss productions. The festival, considered the second-largest film festival in the German-speaking world, has announced the complete line-up for its two competitive sections.
The Feature Film Competition and the Documentary Film Competition will each feature 14 films. Both sections will compete for the Golden Eye Award, accompanied by a CHF 25,000 prize. Across the two competitions, there will be 24 European co-productions.
The Feature Film Competition will include five world premieres, among them The Ideas, by Fabian Stumm; Black Church Bay, the debut feature by Rhys Marc Jones; Mila / Marija, by Andrina Mračnikar; Sevda, by Ufuk Emiroglu; and Serife Tavsan, by Tareq Daoud. The line-up also includes How to Divorce During the War, by Andrius Blaževičius; The Guest, by Mads Mengel Nielsen; Flesh and Fuel, by Pierre Le Gall; and Dua, by Blerta Basholli, which come from festivals including Sundance, Karlovy Vary and Cannes.
The Documentary Film Competition will feature, among others, Bugboy, by Lucas Paleocrassas; Detention, by Guillaume Massart; and One in a Million, by Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes. Three films will have their world premieres: Vieille Peau, by Simon David; Perfect Road, by Christian and Adam Bonke; and My Home of Wind and Sand, by Patrick Wally.
The programme is rounded out by the Gala Premieres, including films such as Wild Horse Nine, by Martin McDonagh; Fatherland, by Paweł Pawlikowski; Queen at Sea, by Lance Hammer; Minotaur, by Andrey Zvyagintsev; A Bit of Light, by Ali Asgari; and Ink, by Danny Boyle. The Signatures section will showcase films by filmmakers including Sandra Wollner, Werner Herzog, Levan Koguashvili and Valeska Grisebach.
Among the festival’s special guests, Julianne Moore will receive the Golden Icon Award, alongside Naomi Watts, Luna Wedler, John Turturro and Leïla Bekhti. Gabriel Yared and Richard Linklater will receive the Career Achievement Award, with the festival also presenting a retrospective dedicated to the American filmmaker’s work. The programme is completed by the thematic sections Now/Future, #artificialintelligence and Sounds.