Zurich Film Festival has revealed a second wave of Gala titles, which includes films starring Tilda Swinton, Sebastian Stan, Nicole Kidman, Pierce Brosnan and Samuel L. Jackson.
Among the 10 added titles are four world premieres, two international premieres and one European premiere.
Zurich will screen, among others, Ali Abbas’ “The Apprentice,” starring Stan, Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door,” starring Swinton, and Halina Reijn’s “Babygirl,” starring Kidman.
Richard Gray’s Western “The Unholy Trinity,” starring Brosnan and Jackson, has its world premiere.
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The other world premieres are “Frieda’s Case” by Maria Brendle, “Aiming High – A Race Against the Limits” by Flavio Gerber and Alun Meyerhans, and German epic adventure “Hagen.”
“The fact that we have the opportunity to present so many world and European premieres goes to show that the ZFF holds a strong position in the international calendar,” Christian Jungen, artistic director of the festival, said. “With ‘Friedas Fall’ and ‘Aiming High – A Race Against the Limits,’ we are presenting the world premieres of two exceptional Swiss films, which will be the subject of many discussions. The ZFF is an important platform for the launch of local films with great public appeal.”
The 20th Zurich Film Festival will run from Oct. 3–13. The complete program will be revealed on Sept. 19.
THE APPRENTICEDramaCanada, Denmark, Ireland, 2024Director: Ali AbbasiCast: Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, Maria Bakalova, Martin Donovan, Catherine McNally1970s New York. Determined to emerge from his powerful father’s shadow and make a name for himself in Manhattan real estate, aspiring mogul Donald J. Trump is in the earliest days of his career when he encounters the man who will become one of the most important figures in his life, political fixer Roy Cohn. Seeing promise in young Donald, the influential attorney—who secured espionage convictions against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and investigated suspected Communists alongside Senator Joseph McCarthy—teaches his new acolyte how to amass wealth and power through deception, intimidation and media manipulation. The rest is history.
THE ROOM NEXT DOORMelodramaSpain, U.S., 2024Director: Pedro AlmodóvarCast: Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore, John Turturro, Alessandro NivolaIngrid (Julianne Moore) and Martha (Tilda Swinton) were close friends in their youth, when they worked together at the same magazine. Ingrid went on to become an autofiction novelist while Martha became a war reporter, and they were separated by the circumstances of life. After years of being out of touch, they meet again in an extreme but strangely sweet situation.
BABYGIRLThrillerU.S., 2024Director: Halina ReijnCast: Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Antonio Banderas, Sophie Wilde, Esther McGregorA high-powered CEO puts her career and family on the line when she begins a torrid affair with her much younger intern.
BONJOUR TRISTESSEEuropean PremiereDrama, Novel adaptationCanada, Germany, 2024Director: Durga Chew-BoseCast: Lily McInerny, Chloë Sevigny, Claes Bang, Naïlia Harzoune, Aliocha SchneiderAt the height of summer, 18-year-old Cécile (Lily McInerny) is languishing by the French seaside with her handsome father, Raymond (Claes Bang), and his lover Elsa (Naïlia Harzoune) when the arrival of her late mother’s friend Anne (Chloë Sevigny) changes everything. Amid the sun-drenched splendor of their surroundings, Cécile’s world is threatened and, desperate to regain control, she sets in motion a plan to drive Anne away with tragic consequences. An adaptation of Françoise Sagan’s unforgettable coming of age novel by the same title, Durga Chew-Bose’s film masterfully captures the complexity of relationships between women and how they wield influence over one another’s fates.
BERGERSInternational PremiereDramaFrance, Canada, 2024Director: Sophie DeraspeCast: Félix-Antoine Duval, Solène Rigot, Guilaine Londez, Michel Benizri, David Ayala, Véronique Ruggia Saura, Younès Boucif, Bruno Raffaelli, Aloïse SauvageMathyas, an aspiring writer, trades his life in Montreal as a young advertising executive for that of a shepherd in the South of France. But the road to his desired pastoral tranquillity is filled with hard work. A visit from Elise, a civil servant who boldly quit her job, gives Mathyas’ quest a new direction. Together, they embark on a transhumance. Facing the challenges of the mountains, with a herd to take care of, they will forge a new life for themselves.
SICILIAN LETTERSInternational PremiereMafia, DramaItaly, France, 2024Director: Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio PiazzaCast: Toni Servillo, Elio Germano, Daniela Marra, Barbora Bobulova, Giuseppe Tantillo, Fausto Russo Alesi, Betti Pedrazzi, Antonia Truppo, Tommaso RagnoSicily, early 2000s. After serving several years in prison for Mafia-related crimes, Catello, a long-serving politician, has lost everything. When the Italian secret service “persuades” him to help capture Matteo, the last major Mafia boss still on the run, whom Catello has known since he was a boy, he sees an opportunity to stage a comeback. A shrewd man of a hundred masks, a tireless illusionist who turns truth into falsehood and falsehood into truth, Catello begins a correspondence with the fugitive, as unique as it is improbable, exploiting the younger man’s emotional emptiness. A gamble which, with one of the most wanted criminals in the world, is always going to involve a degree of risk…
THE UNHOLY TRINITYWorld PremiereWesternU.S., 2024Director: Richard GrayCast: Pierce Brosnan, Samuel L. Jackson, Brandon Lessard, Veronica FerresMontana. 1873. In the moments before his execution, Isaac Broadway gives his estranged son Henry (Brandon Lessard) an impossible task: murder the sheriff who framed him for a crime he didn’t commit. Intent on fulfilling his promise, Henry travels to the remote town of Trinity, only to discover that the man he’s come to kill is already dead. But before he can leave, an unexpected turn of events traps him in town and leaves him caught between Gabriel Dove (Pierce Brosnan), the town’s upstanding new sheriff, and a mysterious figure, cryptically named St. Christopher (Samuel L. Jackson). As Henry’s quest for revenge turns into a struggle for his own survival, he discovers that his father built the town of Trinity on a dark secret — and a stash of stolen gold that St. Christopher is hell-bent on retrieving. To stay alive, Henry will have to face his father’s demons and the history of violence that threatens to put the town at war with itself.
HAGENWorld PremiereFantasy, HistoryGermany, 2024Director: Cyrill Boss & Philipp StennertCast: Gijs Naber, Jannis Niewöhner, Dominic Marcus Singer, Lilja van der Zwaag, Rosalinde Mynster, Jördis Triebel, Jörg Hartmann, Bela Gabor Lenz, Alessandro Schuster, Johanna Kolberg, Emma PreisendanzThe Burgundian weapon master Hagen von Tronje (Gijs Naber) is keeping his crisis-ridden kingdom together with a sense of duty and an iron fist. At the same time he suppresses his secret love for the king’s daughter, Kriemhild (Lilja van der Zwaag), and his own dark past. When the famous dragonslayer Siegfried von Xanten (Jannis Niewöhner) appears in Worms and endangers the old structures with his unpredictability, Hagen increasingly cuts a tragic figure. King Gunter (Dominic Marcus Singer), who is young and also inexperienced on account of the sudden death of his father, sees in Siegfried a chance to save the kingdom. He asks him to help him secure the hand of the dangerous Valkyrie Brunhild (Rosalinde Mynster) in marriage. When Kriemhild falls in love with Hagen’s antagonist Siegfried, he has to decide between love and loyalty to his king.
FRIEDA’S CASEWorld PremiereSocial DramaSwitzerland, 2024Director: Maria BrendleCast: Julia Buchmann, Stefan Merki, Rachel Braunschweig, Max Simonischek, Marlene Tanczik, Liliane AmuatIn 1904, in an era of social upheaval, two lawyers fight for justice and humanity in a moving case. The tragic story of the young seamstress Frieda Keller sparks a debate about shame, ethics and emancipation. The lawyers and their families struggle with individual and moral conflicts while the stirring trial challenges the legal system of the time.
AIMING HIGH – A RACE AGAINST THE LIMITSWorld PremiereDocumentarySwitzerland, 2024Director: Flavio Gerber & Alun MeyerhansCast: Marco Odermatt, Lara Gut-Behrami, Aleksander Kilde, Johan Eliasch, Franz JulenThe ambitious plan to hold the world’s first transnational and highest ski race at the foot of the Matterhorn becomes a harrowing tale of disaster and climate struggle, forcing participants to confront the emotional highs and lows of preparation and the crucial question: What are the future limits of ski races? In this gripping documentary about the planned “Matterhorn Cervino Speed Opening,” the film closely follows the International Ski Federation (FIS), top international athletes such as Marco Odermatt, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and Lara Gut-Behrami, as well as the entire organizing committee led by Franz Julen.
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