The Zurich Festival announces the program for its 20th edition

The programme of the Zurich Film Festival (unspooling 3 – 13 October), which is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year, comprises 107 films, 35 of which are set to be revealed in world or European premieres.

The audience will get to savour no fewer than twelve Swiss movies showcasing in world premieres, including Michael Krummenacher’s espionage film The Traitor, and Maria Brendl’s historical drama Friedas Fallboth of which are screening in the Gala Premieres section, as well as Lisa Brühlmann’s second full-length work, When We Were Sisterswhich has been selected for the Feature Films Competition. Countless high-level stars hailing from Hollywood, the UK, Germany and Switzerland will also be presenting their films to viewers at this anniversary edition of the event.

Fourteen titles have been selected for the afore-mentioned Feature Films Competition, which aims to reveal new talent grappling with their first, second or third works to audiences. As stressed in the press release, many of these movies tell stories revolving around women, such as Mariana Wainstein’s Argentine-Spanish co-production Linda [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Serbian director and actress Mirjana Karanovic. We’ll also see a great many films made by women directors (8 out of the 14 titles), such as Germany’s About Louis by the Italian director living in Berlin Lucia Chiarlawhich follows a family struggling with the bullying their son is subjected to, and Swiss movie The Courageous [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Jasmin Gordonexploring precariousness in wealthy Switzerland. Quite a few European (co)productions, in addition to those mentioned above, are also on the agenda, notably Under the Volcano [+lire aussi :
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interview : Damian Kocur
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interview : Julien Colonna
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interview : Lawrence Valin
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interview : Karan Kandhari
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interview : Rungano Nyoni et Susan Cha…
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In terms of the Documentary Competition, this year will see the ZFF inviting us to observe the world from a critical and militant viewpoint, with artistic director Christian boys enthusing that: “This year’s Documentary Competition is more political than ever”. European (co)productions are also plentiful in this section. These include Tata [+lire aussi :
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interview : Lina Vdovîi et Radu Ciorni…
fiche film] by Lina Vdovîi and Radu Ciorniciucwhich demonstrates how emotional coercion and domestic abuse are passed on from one generation to the next; The Battle for Laikipia by Daphne Matziarakia thriller, of sorts, which morphs into a political essay on the tragic battle for land and resources unfolding on the Laikipia plateau; Stealing Giants by Karl Ammann and Laurin Merzwhich casts a critical eye over the illegal elephant trade; Russians at War by Anastasia Trofimovahoming in on Russian soldiers on the front line in Ukraine; the touching work The Remarkable Life of Ibelin [+lire aussi :
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interview : Benjamin Ree
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fiche film] by Australian Gabrielle Brady; Marching in the Dark by Kinshuk Surjanexamining the precarious and exhausting lives of farmers in India; Swiss movie Home is the Ocean by Livia Vonaeschwhich sees the director observing the daily life of a family who have been living on a sailboat for twenty years; Agent of Happiness [+lire aussi :
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The highlight of the festival’s industry activities, meanwhile, will be the Zurich Summit, a leading platform for the creative industries which will gather together an array of producers, business executives, and film, TV and entertainment creators, alongside entrepreneurs and financiers from the technological sector. ZFF Masters, which hosts privileged encounters between the audience and directors, screenwriters, producers and actors, will further enrich the event, as will the Special Screening Award – a closed-doors screening event in which Oscars voters will get to see Switzerland’s representative Thunder [+lire aussi :
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interview : Carmen Jaquier
fiche film]; the Film Music Competition, an international competition dedicated to soundtracks; the Industry Spotlights platform, aimed at presenting important film industry themes; Leading FeMales, which places exceptional women working within the film industry centre stage; SoundTrack_zurich, a professional three-day event revolving around film and media music; SRF Writer’s Day, which will explore the theme of AI in the future of Swiss TV programmes; Zurich Filmnacht, which is dedicated to the connection between the city of Zurich and Swiss film production, and How to Kinderfilm, which is specially designed for families and children.

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