Tonigh, the Zurich Film Festival awarded the French-British actress a Golden Eye for her great career. Gainsbourg accepted the honour at the Zurich Convention Center and thanked Christian Jungen and Elke Mayer. Afterwards, Gainsbourg presented her new film THE ALMOND AND THE SEAHORSE together with fellow actress Rebel Wilson and co-director and actor Celyn Jones.
At the world premiere of THE ALMOND AND THE SEAHORSE at the Zurich Convention Center, the French-British actress Charlotte Gainsbourg was awarded the Golden Eye. Gainsbourg was very grateful but modest. In her acceptance speech, she spoke about her privilege every day to be able to do what she loves. “Grasping moments and surprises and hope for the best – not being in control, that’s exactly what I want”, Gainsbourg said. She feels like a fraud, but a happy one. “I was lucky enough to never have to think about building a career, everything happened by chance.”
“I admire her versatility, her style that reminds me of the 70s, her French coolness and her risk-taking nature,” Christian Jungen elaborates in his speech. Charlotte Gainsbourg is one of the most famous actresses in Europe and works with master directors such as Lars von Trier, Alejandro González Iñarritu, Todd Haynes, Agnès Varda, Wim Wenders or Yvan Attal. Whether horror thriller or romantic comedy, Charlotte Gainsbourg is a character actress who is able to lend her characters human depth and credibility with her charisma. “Charlotte Gainsbourg always fully commits to her roles and portrays her characters in a way that lets the viewer only see the figure and not the star,” Christian Jungen said.
Gainsbourg was eagerly awaited by her fans on the Green Carpet at the Festival Center this evening and welcomed to the 18th Zurich Film Festival by Christian Jungen, Artistic Director of the Zurich Film Festival and Elke Mayer, Managing Director of Spoundation Motion Picture AG (SMP). Afterwards, the award ceremony took place at the Kongresshaus Zurich, where her latest film THE ALMOND AND THE SEAHORSE had its world premiere. Alongside Gainsbourg, the premiere was also introduced by fellow actress Rebel Wilson and director Celyn Jones.
Screenwriter and actor Celyn Jones and cinematographer Tom Stern’s directorial debut THE ALMOND AND THE SEAHORSE is based on Kaite O’Reilly’s 2008 stage play of the same name, in which Gainsbourg and Wilson play an archaeologist and an architect struggling to carve out a future for themselves after a traumatic brain injury distances them from the people they love. Trine Dyrholm can be seen in another important role.
As the daughter of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, Charlotte Gainsbourg has known what it is to be in show business since childhood. She starred in Claude Millers L’EFFRONTÉE (1985) at the age of 14, a performance that earned her the César Award for Most Promising Actress. Gainsbourg was soon shooting with France’s most renowned auteur filmmakers, including Agnès Varda (KUNG-FU MASTER, 1988), her life partner Yvan Attal, who also joined her on several occasions in front of the camera to create a screen couple, Jacques Doillon, Patrice Leconte, Arnaud Desplechin, Dominik Moll and Danièle Thompson.
Gainsbourg has also appeared in numerous international movie productions, for example in Franco Zeffirelli’s JANE EYRE (1996), Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s 21 GRAMS (2003), Michel Gondry’s THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP (2006) and Todd Haynes’ I’M NOT THERE (2007). Lars von Trier brought her to the big screen as a leading actress on no less than three occasions: The horror thriller ANTICHRIST (2008) earned her the award for Best Actress at the 62nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival, MELANCHOLIA (2001) saw her play the sister of Kirsten Dunst, and she whipped up controversy with NYMPHOMANIAC (2014) owing to the movie’s sexually explicit nature.
Away from the big screen, Charlotte Gainsbourg has also enjoyed a successful career as a musician and songwriter. She has released five studio albums to date, the last of which “Rest” (2017) earned her Artist of the Year 2018 at the Victoires de la Musique (the French Grammy Awards).
The official partner of the gala is our main partner Credit Suisse.