Zurich Film Festival can bring stars to Zurich despite strike

The Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) has some stars on its way – despite a strike by actors and screenwriters in Hollywood. Guests include Jessica Chastain, Diane Kruger, Wim Wenders and Ethan Hawke.

“We fought,” said Christian Jungs, artistic director of the ZFF, on Thursday at the presentation of the festival program. Due to the strike in Hollywood that has been going on for months, it is difficult to get stars on the green carpet this year.

“Not only are no films being made, the strikers are also not showing up,” Jungs said. This is a difficult situation for film festivals. Often you get no feedback at all or subsequent rejections.

With Jessica Chastain (known for ‘Interstellar’), Diane Kruger (‘Inglorious Basterds’, ‘Troja’), director Wim Wenders and Ethan Hawke, the ZFF can now still present world-class films – even though they may not be . really big names from previous editions of the ZFF come to the fore.

This year the ZFF will show 52 world and European premieres, 14 more than last year. “We are very happy to be able to show our audience a record number of world and European premieres,” said Jungs.

The high number shows that the ZFF’s reputation in the global film industry is increasing. The ZFF takes place from September 28 to October 8. Presale of tickets starts on Monday, September 18.

With the start of the film festival, the former cinema of the cultural center “Kosmos” will also reopen under the new name “Frame”. This is also the beginning of a new era for the ZFF, which will operate the cinema in the future, according to ZFF director Jennifer Somm. The “Frame” will be the home of the festival. (sda)