The 18th Zurich Film Festival (Sept. 22-Oct. 2) honors the French-British actress for her outstanding career and versatility. Gainsbourg will receive the award on Sept. 26 and present her new film THE ALMOND AND THE SEAHORSE as a world premiere.
She is one of Europe’s most famous actresses and works with such greats of world cinema as Lars von Trier, Alejandro González Iñarritu, Todd Haynes, Agnès Varda, Wim Wenders and Yvan Attal. Charlotte Gainsbourg is expected as a star guest at the 18th ZFF, and will be awarded the festival’s Golden Eye for her exceptional acting. “Charlotte Gainsbourg is one of the most versatile character actresses in European cinema,” explains Christian Jungen, Artistic Director of ZFF. “She is renowned for her bold choice of roles: Whether horror thriller or romantic comedy, avant-garde drama or Hollywood mainstream, she has the ability to give her characters human depth and credibility across all genres. And she is one of those rare actresses who can captivate with her charisma and carry an entire movie on her own.
Gainsbourg will be joined in Zurich by Rebel Wilson to attend the world premiere of their most recent film THE ALMOND AND THE SEAHORSE. The directorial debut by screenwriter and actor Celyn Jones and cameraman Tom Stern is based on Kaite O’Reilly’s eponymous stage piece from 2008. Gainsbourg and Wilson play an archaeologist and an architect struggling to carve out a common future after a traumatic brain injury distances them from the people they love. Trine Dyrholm is cast 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.