PRESS RELEASES
Three competition winners and the “Golden Icon Award” for Morgan Freeman
The three prize winners of the Zurich Film Festival’s “International Feature Film”, “German-Language Feature Film” and “International Documentary Film” competition categories have been announced:
The Russian contribution "Wolfy" by Vasilij Sigarev won the International Feature Film Competition, the best German-Language Feature Film award went to "66/67 – Fairplay is over" by Carsten Ludwig and Jan-Christoph Glaser and, celebrating its world premiere at the Zurich Film Festival, the German/Swiss co-production "The Sound After the Storm" by Patrik Soergel, Ryan Fenson-Hood and Sven O. Hill topped the International Documentary Film Competition.
The documentary film "Defamation", an Israeli production by Yoav Shamir, and the German-language films "13 Semesters" by Frieder Wittich and Gravity by Maximilian Erlenwein received a special mention. [more]
Statement from the Zurich Film Festival regarding the arrest of Roman Polanski
The organisers of the Zurich Film Festival are taken aback; they regret the circumstances regarding the arrest of Roman Polanski and protest against these. Roman Polanski was in Zurich to be celebrated as guest of honour for his cinematic work, which has received undisputed recognition worldwide amongst experts. The assessment of legal aspects does not lie within the responsibility of the organisers of the Zurich Film Festival.
Accusations which have not been thoroughly legally checked are decisively rejected by the Zurich Film Festival. Since it is not possible to make any enquiries regarding arrest warrants for legal reasons, the Zurich Film Festival has not made contact with any of the judicial authorities - assertions to the contrary are false. For this reason, Mr Polanski's management also knew nothing about them. Apart from that, Mr Polanski has been visiting Switzerland regularly and unchallenged for years, including during the course of this year. There were no grounds to assume any change in the situation.
The Zurich Film Festival sticks to its recognition of Mr Polanski's cultural achievements. Everything else lies in the responsibility of the justice authorities. The publicity surrounding Mr Polanski's arrest has not been sought after by the organisers of the Film Festival. We intended to honour Roman Polanski for his cinematic achievements. We hope that the scandal surrounding the arrest of Mr Polanski will not cause the films of many talented artists to be forgotten, but rather that they receive the attention they deserve.
Media inquiries regarding Roman Polanski
All media inquiries regarding Roman Polanski are directed to:
Richterich & Partner Christoph Richterich, Tel.: 043 499 50 00
Press Release, September 27, 2009 - The planned "A Tribute to ..." Award ceremony for film maker Roman Polanski will go ahead in his absence. Roman Polanski, one of the greatest film directors of our time would have received an award for his life's achievement at the Zurich Film Festival. However, he was detained by the police upon his entry at Zurich Airport. His detention is linked to the demand by US-authorities to a warrant for his arrest in 1978.The festival directors have received this news with great consternation and shock. They have decided that the "A Tribute to ... Roman Polanski" night will take place with a few changes.
Thirty Films in Three Competitions, Ten World Premieres and Celebrated Guests
Festival directors Nadja Schildknecht and Karl Spoerri and curators of the Competition Programme and Out of Competition Films Christine von Fragstein and Nikolaj Nikitin, announced the nine renowned and experienced speakers of this year’s Zurich Master Class and the jury members for the two international competitions at today’s 5th Zurich Film Festival press conference. Three-times Oscar® nominated actress Debra Winger will preside over the International Competition’s five-(wo)man jury and Director Erwin Wagenhofer, whose films We Feed the World and Let’s Make Money caused a sensation, will head the International Documentary Film jury. He will be joined by the reputed Swiss documentary filmmaker Peter Liechti and the British producer Elizabeth Wood to decide who will win the „Golden Eye“ in this category.
The full programme and tickets are available now! [more]
