In its Gala Premieres section, the Zurich Film Festival showcases the year’s most eagerly anticipated auteur cinema films with a focus on intelligent Hollywood productions. This year the ZFF screens, among others, MAESTRO from and with Bradley Cooper, POOR THINGS by Yorgos Lanthimos with Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe, and the festival’s Closing Film SALTBURN by Emerald Fennell with Barry Keoghan and Rosamund Pike.
From September 28 until October 8, 2023, the Zurich Film Festival shows crowd-pleasing auteur films with outstanding artistic merit in its Gala Premieres section. And this year sees another wide-ranging selection light up the festival’s silver screens. “We’re delighted to be able to offer audiences a strong selection of auteur films, such as MAESTRO and DUMB MONEY,” says Christian Jungen, Artistic Director of the Zurich Film Festival. “Hollywood has been part of our festival’s DNA since its inception. And it’s an honour once again to have several titles in our selection that will go on to receive Oscar nominations. We can also already announce that we’ll be screening a record number of world and European premieres during this year’s edition of the ZFF: A total of 52 – that’s 14 more than the previous year.”
The entire 19th ZFF programme will be published on our website from 12 noon on Thursday, September 14. The latest info can be found via our ZFF social media channels. Tickets go on sale Monday, September 18, 2023.
POOR THINGS
Drama
USA, Ireland, UK, 2023
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Cast: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef
From filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and producer Emma Stone comes the tale of the fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Under Baxter’s protection, Bella is eager to learn. Hungry for the worldliness she is lacking, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.
MAESTRO
Biopic/Drama
USA, 2023
Director: Bradley Cooper
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke, Sarah Silverman
MAESTRO is a towering and fearless love story chronicling the lifelong relationship between Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein. A love letter to life and art, Maestro at its core is an emotionally epic portrayal of family and love.
DUMB MONEY
Biopic/Comedy/Drama
USA, 2023
Director: Craig Gillespie
Cast: Shailene Woodley, Seth Rogen, Sebastian Stan, Paul Dano, Vincent D’Onofrio, Pete Davidson, America Ferrera, Nick Offerman, Anthony Ramos
This is the story of one of the most extraordinary online movements in history against establishment. Dumb Money is the ultimate David vs. Goliath story, centering on the insane true story of everyday people who flipped the script on Wall Street and got rich by turning GAMESTOP (yes, the mail videogame store) into the world hottest company. In the middle of it all is regular guy Keith Gill, who starts it all by sinking his life savings into the stock and posting about it. When his social posts start blowing up, so does his life and the lives of everybody following him. As a stock tip becomes a movement, everybody gets rich – until the billionaires fight back and both sides find their worlds turned upside down.
FINGERNAILS
Drama/Romance/Science Fiction
USA, 2023
Director: Christos Nikou
Cast: Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed, Jeremy Allen White, Luke Wilson, Annie Murphy
Anna and Ryan have found true love. It’s been proven by a controversial new technology. There’s just one problem: Anna still isn’t sure. Then she takes a position at a love testing institute, and meets Amir.
WICKED LITTLE LETTERS
European Premiere
Comedy/History/Mystery
UK, France, 2023
Director: Thea Sharrock
Cast: Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Hugh Skinner, Timothy Spall, Anjana Vasan
Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley play neighbours who get on each other’s nerves in this dark comedy about a small English town where residents start receiving anonymous, expletive-laden letters, igniting a scandal in their community.
HIGH & LOW – JOHN GALLIANO
European Premiere
Documentary
USA, 2023
Director: Kevin Macdonald
Cast: Naomi Campbell, Penélope Cruz, John Galliano, Yasmin Le Bon, Kate Moss, Charlize Theron, Sydney Toledano, Amber Valletta, Anna Wintour
The rise then fall of the most influential, flamboyant & iconoclastic designer of French Haute Couture. Built as an investigation, Kevin MacDonald’s film is depicting Galliano’s work, the multiple facets of his character and the ultimate steps that led him to pronouncing antisemitic insults. Through interviews of his closest friends and family as well as some of the most influential celebrities of the fashion and pop world, and of John Galliano himself, Kevin MacDonald portrays the man behind the fashion genius and his journey for redemption.
RADICAL
European Premiere
Drama
USA, Mexico, 2023
Director: Christopher Zalla
Cast: Eugenio Derbez, Daniel Haddad, Jennifer Trejo, Mia Fernanda Solis, Danilo Guardiola Escobar, Gilberto Barraza
What will become of the sixth grade students at Jose Urbina Lopez Elementary School in Matamoros? They are among the lowest-performing students in Mexico, and the world they know is one of violence and deprivation. The classroom climate is one of overbearing discipline, not opportunity. It may seem like a dead end…. but it’s also the perfect place for new teacher Sergio Juarez to try something radical. There’s just one problem: Sergios’ (played by Latin megastar Eugenio Derbez) unconventional curriculum doesn’t meet with universal acceptance, and he’s accused of having no idea what he’s doing.
OUT OF SEASON
Romance
France, 2023
Director: Stéphane Brizé
Cast: Guillaume Canet, Alba Rohrwacher, Emmy Boissard Paumelle, Sharif Andoura
Mathieu lives in Paris, Alice in a small spa-town in Western France. He is a well-known actor in his 50s, she a piano teacher in her 40s. 15 years ago, the two were in love, and then they separated. Since then, water passed under the bridge, each went their own way and wounds slowly healed. While a melancholic Mathieu sits relaxing in the whirlpool of a Thalasso thermal spa, Alice unexpectedly pops up.
SALTBURN
Closing Film
Comedy/Drama/Thriller
UK, USA, 2023
Director: Emerald Fennell
Cast: Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Carey Mulligan, Richard E. Grant, Alison Oliver, Archie Madekwe
Academy Award winning filmmaker Emerald Fennell (PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN) brings us a beautifully wicked tale of privilege and desire. Struggling to find his place at Oxford University, student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten.