Winners 2009

The jury of the 5th Zurich Film Festival awarded the Golden Eye to the three winners of the competition series at the glamorous Closing Night on October 3, 2009 at the cinema corso. The jury faced the exciting but demanding challenge to award three outstanding works out of 30 extraordinary films of up-and-coming filmmakers. The competition was endowed with a total prize money of 60'000 CHF.

Best International Feature Film

Presided over by actress Debra Winger, the jury of the International Feature Film Competition awarded its Golden Eye to the Russian drama Wolfy by Vasilij Sigarev. In this competition category curated by Nikolaj Nikitin, the jury chose the film for "its haunting and single-minded vision, extraordinary lead performance and imaginative use of cinematic language".

Best International Dokumentary Film

The International Documentary Film Competition was curated by Christine von Fragstein and its jury headed by Erwin Wagenhofer, who awarded the Golden Eye to "The Sound After the Storm" by directors Patrik Soergel, Ryan Fenson-Hood and Sven O. Hill, for its courageous revisiting of the victims of Hurricane Katrina long after the media had forgotten them and for the power of its visual and sound imagery in evoking a culture to a large degree destroyed when the hurricane hit. The Israeli production "Defamation", directed by Yoav Shamir, which tackles the issue of Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism, received a special mention for its intelligent approach and delicate handling of a difficult and highly controversial theme.

Best German-Language Feature Film

Co-director and artistic director of the Zurich Film Festival, Karl Spoerri, curated the German-Language Feature Film Competition. This Brunner stepped in as jury president, replacing the ailing Til Schweiger to award its Golden Eye to "66/67 - Fairplay is Over". "In the German Language Competition, the Golden Eye goes to a powerful film that shows in a very intense and often funny way, without any compromises in storytelling and authentic performances, how a group of soccer fans are trapped in a social system of revenge, violence and so-called friendship. Using soccer only as a setting and background, the film demonstrates how these hooligans are both perpetrators and victims, caught in their own incapacity for inner peace."

Audience Award

Chosen from all the films participating in the competition categories, the audience voted "Ceasefire" by Lancelot von Naso as their favorite film.

Variety New Talent Award

The winner of Variety's New Talent Award was announced yesterday: Variety allocated its award to the sensitive emigration drama "Amreeka".

Critics’ Choice Award

The Danish production "Applause" by Martin Pieter Zandvliet received The Swiss Association of Film Journalists' Award.