07/10/2013 - Attendance boom at the 9th edition of the Zurich Film Festival with a record number of 71,000 visitors and 122 films

The ninth edition of the Zurich Film Festival turned out to be record-breaking in many ways. “After the first week we already had more moviegoers than last year at the whole festival,” reports Nadja Schildknecht, co-director of the Zurich Film Festival. In total, around 71,000 visitors attended the event, which is an increase of 22 percent in comparison to 2012. While the number of films slightly grew from 111 to 122, the festival increased the number of screenings from 250 to 345.

A noticeable impact was the growing number of international guests from all over the world. This time, about 450 talents, celebrities and industry representatives attended the feel-good-event. Among them were Hollywood actors Hugh Jackman and Harrison Ford, Michael Haneke who received A tribute to... Award as well as directors such as Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity [+see also:
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film profile]). Stephen Frears honoured British producer Tim Bevan who received a Career Achievement Award for over 100 Working Title productions while surprise guest Harvey Weinstein gave a master class. “It isimportant for usthat the industry has a stronger appearance,” emphasizes Nadja Schildknecht.

Oscar-nominated producer Stacey Sher joined the jury for the international feature film competition, which was headed by Marc Forster. The Golden Eye went to the Mexican drama La jaula de oro [+see also:
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film profile] by Diego Quemada-Diez. The prize for the best international documentary went to Danish filmmaker Kaspar Astrup Schroeder for Lej en familie A/S [+see also:
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The German tragicomedy Finsterworld [+see also:
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