06/10/2025 - Special Mentions have gone to Alice Douard’s Love Letters and Shih-Ching Tsou’s Left-Handed Girl, while Moris Freiburghaus’ doc I Love You, I Leave You picked up three awards

During a rousing closing ceremony at the Zurich Opera House on Saturday evening, the winners of this year’s Zurich Film Festival were crowned before a screening of James McAvoy’s feature film debut as a director, California Schemin’. Tereza Nvotová's Father [+see also:
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interview: Tereza Nvotová
film profile] came out on top in the Feature Film Competition – for first, second and third fiction features – claiming the Golden Eye for the section and CHF 25,000 (€26,800). Alice Douard’s touching sapphic story Love Letters [+see also:
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film profile] (for its “brilliantly composed script” and “intuitive and on-point direction”) and Shih-Ching Tsou’s Taipei-set generational drama Left-Handed Girl (a “luminous gem”), received Special Mentions in this competition. Both of them are debuts that premiered in the Cannes Critics’ Week earlier this year.

The Feature Film Competition jury, chaired by US director and producer Reinaldo Marcus Green, also consisted of German thesp Leonie Benesch, Italian producer Carlo Cresto-Dina, Iranian director Ali Asgari and Swiss film curator Nicole Reinhardt. The jury selected Father from among 14 films competing for the Golden Eye, with the jury statement mentioning how they were “deeply moved by the craft and humanity” of Nvotová’s work. Father enjoyed its world premiere at Venice and was selected as the Oscars entry for Slovakia.

I Love You, I Leave You by Moris Freiburghaus became the first Swiss film to win the Golden Eye and CHF 25,000 in the Documentary Film Competition, the jury for which was chaired by US filmmaker Matthew Heineman, and included US producer Odessa Rae, US documentarian David Osit, Danish producer Helle Faber and Swiss editor Katharina Bhend. Pulling at heartstrings, with the jury saying they “had never seen anything like it before”, the documentary also collected the ZFF Critics’ Jury Special Mention – for emerging Swiss talent across the entire programme – and the overall festival’s Audience Award. The Special Mentions in this competition went to The Ground Beneath Our Feet [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Yrsa Roca Fannberg – set in an Icelandic nursing home – and Life After Siham by Namir Abdel Messeeh, about the death of a parent. Life After Siham was also presented with the Film Prize of the Churches of Zurich.

Benjamin Heisenberg’s German comedy The Prank picked up both prizes in the ZFF for Kids section, the Jury Award and the Audience Award. The ZFF Critics’ Jury presented its top prize to Memory of Princess Mumbi [+see also:
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interview: Damien Hauser
film profile] by Damien Hauser, accompanied by CHF 10,000 (€10,730). Zurich also played host to the 13th International Film Music Competition (IFMC), where the winner, Mikal Grigorowitsch, was granted the Golden Eye for Best International Film Music and 10,000 CHF for his scoring of a seven-minute short film, played live by the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich along with the other two finalists’ pieces. The festival also handed out a slew of honorary awards to creatives, accompanied by several master classes.

Here is the full list of award winners:

Golden Eye for Best Feature Film
Father [+see also:
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interview: Tereza Nvotová
film profile] – Tereza Nvotová (Slovakia/Czech Republic/Poland)

Feature Film Competition Special Mentions
Love Letters [+see also:
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Left-Handed Girl – Shih-Ching Tsou (Taiwan/France/USA/UK)

Golden Eye for Best Documentary Film
I Love You, I Leave You – Moris Freiburghaus (Switzerland)

Documentary Film Competition Special Mentions
The Ground Beneath Our Feet [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Yrsa Roca Fannberg (Iceland/Poland)
Life After Siham – Namir Abdel Messeeh (France/Egypt)

ZFF Critics’ Jury Award for Emerging Swiss Talent – Winner
Memory of Princess Mumbi [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Damien Hauser
film profile] – Damien Hauser (Kenya/Switzerland)

ZFF Critics’ Jury Award for Emerging Swiss Talent – Special Mention
I Love You, I Leave You – Moris Freiburghaus

ZFF for Kids Jury Award
The Prank – Benjamin Heisenberg (Germany/Switzerland)

ZFF for Kids Audience Award
The Prank – Benjamin Heisenberg

Audience Award
I Love You, I Leave You – Moris Freiburghaus

Film Prize of the Churches of Zurich
Life After Siham – Namir Abdel Messeeh

Golden Eye for Best International Film Music
Mikal Grigorowitsch