Each year, the Zurich Film Festival presents the eagerly awaited highlights of auteur cinema – among them are gems from Hollywood with Oscar potential. Eleven new titles are being announced today, including CONCLAVE by the Swiss-Austrian director Edward Berger, THE LAST SHOWGIRL with Pamela Anderson, or ANORA by Sean Baker.
From October 3 to October 13, 2024, spectacular and appealing films of auteur cinema are presented in the section “Gala Premiers” of the 20th Zurich Film Festival. “In recent years, the ZFF has established itself as an important event for the film industry on the way to the award season. Hollywood is part of our festival’s DNA and we are particularly pleased that in our anniversary year we can once again present major American films with Oscar potential as well as the world premieres of the German-language prestige production DER SPITZNAME starring Iris Berben, Florian David Fitz and Christoph Maria Herbst,” says Christian Jungen, Artistic Director of the Zurich Film Festival.
The complete programme of the 19th ZFF will be published on the website on Thursday, September 19 at 12 noon. The latest festival information can be found on the ZFF social media channels. Ticket sales start on Monday, 23 September 2024.
CONCLAVE
Thriller
United Kingdom, USA, 2024
Director: Edward Berger
Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow
Following the death of the Pope, Cardinal Lawrence (Fiennes) is tasked with leading the search for a new Pope in the far corners of the Vatican. Lawrence quickly finds himself at the center of a conspiracy, as the cardinals forge factions and foster rivalries to serve their own ambitions. As the political scheming intensifies, Lawrence realizes that the late Pope concealed a secret from them. This must imperatively be uncovered before a new Pope is elected.
DER SPITZNAME
World Premiere
Comedy
Germany, 2024
Director: Sönke Wortmann
Cast: Iris Berben, Christoph Maria Herbst, Florian David Fitz, Caroline Peters, Justus von Dohnányi, Janina Uhse
Anna (Janina Uhse) and Thomas (Florian David Fitz) have planned their wedding and have invited the entire family to the Alps in Tirol.Stephan (Christoph Maria Herbst) – grumpy as always – ponders about the current lives of the Böttchers, Wittmans, Bergers and Königs while on the ski lift. To everyone’s surprise, Anna has successfully started her acting career , Thomas is about to be promoted to the managing committee of a real estate group – provided he passes the obligatory sensibility training course. Stephan’s wife Elisabeth (Caroline Peters) still works as a teacher but is secretly boosting their family’s budget with bitcoin trading. And René (Justus von Dohnányi), who has three-year-old twins with his wife Dorothea (Iris Berben), turns out to be an overly protective helicopter dad. Stephan himself was recently fired from his job as a university professor; there was an incident. And Stephan and Elisabeth’s woke children, Cajus (Jona Volkmann), 18, and Antigone (Kya-Celina Barucki), 17, add further chaos to the hoped-for idyll. In the end, it is not only the wedding that is on the rocks…
WILLIAM TELL
European Premiere
Epic
United Kingdom, Italy, 2024
Director: Nick Hamm
Cast: Claes Bang, Connor Swindells, Ellie Bamber, Sir Ben Kingsley
The 14th Century. Within the Holy Roman Empire, the European nations compete for dominance. The Austrians, hungry for land, press into Switzerland, a rural and tranquil country. As his wife, son and country are threatened by the tyrannical Austrian King and his warlords, a once peaceful hunter and former crusader, William Tell, leads his people to rebellion.
A REAL PAIN
European Premiere
Drama
USA, 2024
Director: Jesse Eisenberg
Cast: Kieran Culkin, Jesse Eisenberg, Jennifer Grey, Will Sharpe
Mismatched cousins David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) reunite for a tour through Poland to discover more about the life of their recently deceased grandmother. The roadtrip, intended as a journey to the past, confronts the two f with the present, in which they question their mutual relationship and their family history.
BLITZ
International Premiere
Drama/Action
United Kingdom, USA, 2024
Director: Steve McQueen
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Elliot Heffernan, Harris Dickinson, Paul Weller
BLITZ follows the epic journey of George (Elliott Heffernan), a 9-year-old boy in World War II London whose mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan) sends him to safety in the English countryside. George, defiant and determined to return home to Rita and his grandfather Gerald (Paul Weller) in East London, ensues on an adventure, only to find himself in immense peril, while a distraught Rita searches for her missing son.
LANDESVERRÄTER
World Premiere
History
Switzerland, Germany, 2024
Director: Michael Krummacher
Cast: Dimitri Krebs, Fabian Hinrichs, Stefan Gubser, Lena Wedler
St. Gallen during the second world war: deluded into believing he could become a famous singer in Germany, poor tramp Ernst Schrämli sells Swiss military information to a manipulative German Nazi spy. When he is caught, Ernst becomes the first Swiss person to be sentenced to death for espionage and treason. LANDESVERRÄTER is based on real events and portrays a young daydreamer from the provinces who is exploited and betrayed during the second world war. Ernst Schrämli was the first of 17 traitors in Swiss history to be executed.
THE LAST SHOWGIRL
Drama
USA, 2024
Director: Gia Coppola
Cast: Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kiernan Shipka, Dave Bautista
Shelly, a seasoned showgirl, must plan for her future when her show abruptly closes after a 30-year run. As a dancer in her fifties, she struggles with what to do next. As a mother, she strives to repair a strained relationship with her daughter, who often took a backseat to her showgirl family.
ANORA
Drama/Comedy
USA, 2024
Director: Sean Baker
Cast: Mikey Madison, Paul Weissman, Lindsey Normington
Anora, a young sex worker from Brooklyn, gets her chance at a Cinderella story when she meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as the parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.
SEPTEMBER 5
Drama
Germany, 2024
Director: Tim Fehlbaum
Cast: Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, Leonie Benesch, Ben Chaplin
SEPTEMBER 5 unveils the decisive moment that forever changed media coverage and continues to impact live news today. Set during the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics, the film follows an American Sports broadcasting team that quickly adapted from sports reporting to live coverage of the Israeli athletes taken hostage. Through this lens, SEPTEMBER 5 provides a powerful new perspective on the live broadcast seen globally by an estimated one billion people at the time. At the heart of the story is Geoff, a young and ambitious producer striving to prove himself to his boss, the legendary TV executive Roone Arledge. Together with Marianne, a German interpreter, Geoff unexpectedly takes the helm of the live coverage. As narratives shift, time ticks away, and conflicting rumors spread, with the hostages’ lives hanging in the balance, Geoff grapples with tough decisions while confronting his own moral compass. How do you cover a situation like this if what the perpetrators want is the spotlight you give?
SOY NEVENKA
International Premiere
Drama
Spain, 2024
Director: Icíar Bollaín
Cast: Mireia Oriol, Ricardo Gomez, Pipo Suevos, Carlos Serrano
The real-life case of a pioneer, Nevenka Fernández: the first woman to successfully bring an influential and popular politician to justice for sexual harassment in the workplace.
THELMA
Action
USA, 2024
Director: Josh Margolin
Cast: June Squibb, Fred Hechinger, Richard Roundtree, Parker Posey
When 93-year-old Thelma Post (June Squibb) gets duped by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson, she sets out on a treacherous quest across the city to reclaim what was taken from her. A story exploring aging, family and autonomy (and uniquely inspired by action movies like Mission: Impossible) – THELMA is based on a real-life experience of writer/director Josh Margolin’s grandmother, and marks Squibb’s first leading film role of her 70+ year career.