Zurich Film Festival

Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) is an annual film festival that has been held in Zürich, Switzerland, since 2005.

About

The Zurich Film Festival began in October 2005 and became firmly established upon the national and international festival landscape within a very short period of time.

The Zurich Film Festival took place for the first time in October 2005. The festival was founded by Karl Spoerri (former Artistic Director) and Nadja Schildknecht (former Managing Director), who served as co-directors until 2019.

The ZFF is organized by Zurich Film Festival AG and Spoundation Motion Picture AG in cooperation with local institutions and sponsors and works with distributors and producers from Switzerland and abroad.

Within just a few years, the ZFF has established itself in the national and international festival landscape and is now one of the largest film festivals in the German-speaking region.

Since its first edition, the festival has grown continuously. Despite the reduced capacity in 2021 due to the pandemic, the ZFF recorded over 100,000 visitors.

The festival provides a platform for the most promising filmmakers from around the globe. It aims to promote exchange between emerging directors, successful film workers, the film industry and the general public. Every autumn, the ZFF presents the year’s greatest discoveries and most anticipated films.

Sections

Focus Competition
Feature Film Competition
Documentary Competition
Gala Premieres
Special Screenings
Hashtag
New World View
Sounds
Border Lines
Window
ZFF for Kids

Awards

Golden Eye

A Golden Eye, the main prize of the festival, will be awarded in each main competition category (Focus Competition, Feature Film Competition and Documentary Film Competition) by a separate jury. The Golden Eye is endowed with a 25 000 CHF cash prize.

Audience Award

The public chooses its favourite film from all of the competition entries by giving votes to every film. The best voted film will receive the Audience Award from the festival.

Emerging Swiss Talent Award (Critics Award)

The Internatinal Critic’s prize goes to the best Swiss debut film at the festival.

Honorary Awards

The festival honours outstanding filmmakers and actors with an honorary Golden Eye.

Ecumenical Film Award (Churches of Zurich)

2017 saw the first ‘Film Award of the Churches of Zurich’, which carries a CHF 10’000 cash prize offered by the reformed and catholic churches of the canton of Zurich. It is awarded by a separate jury to a film in the ‘Focus Competition’ section.

Science Film Award (Eye On Science)

Five films compete for the Science Film Award, which is awarded by the association Eye On Science. Only films from the official ZFF programme that bring scientifically relevant topics closer to the general public in an attractive and entertaining way will be nominated. The jury consists of experts from the film industry and science.

Kids Jury Award

Kids ranging in age from 10 to 13 can apply to become a member of the kids jury. They complete a workshop before choosing their favourite film from the ‘ZFF for Kids’ section. The winner receives the ‘Mini Golden Eye’ award.