Zurich Film Festival Heads on Theatrical-Loving Gen Z, Prioritizing Private Equity and Tilly Norwood a Year Later: This Is the ‘Place Where You Address the Real Hot Questions’

The festival will also continue to cement its reputation as an awards launchpad with screenings of titles such as 'I Play Rocky,' 'Wild Horse Nine,' 'Tenzing' and 'The Debut' If one film could define this year’s Zurich Film Festival, it would be Peter Farrelly’s “I Play Rocky,” a heartfelt drama about the making of the Sylvester Stallone-starring classic that is playing as one of the festival galas. The film embodies not only the festival’s 2026 motto of “Dream Big,” but also a go-getter attitude that saw CEO Christian Jungen buy out former owner — Swiss newspaper NZZ — and lead the festival alongside an investment team that secured private funds to ensure the event’s continuity and independence. A year on from the bold strategic move, Jungen is confident in its success and the advantages it brings for the future.

Speaking with Variety ahead of this year’s edition from an office decorated from wall to wall with prized “Rocky” collector items — think golden gloves, intricate statues and vintage posters — Jungen says the Farrelly film has been a great source of inspiration for this year’s festival. In these rough times, when it’s very tough to finance films, that’s something that is going to speak to everybody in the industry. I am sure it will be embraced broadly in our industry and with audiences.

It’s a crowdpleaser.” Jungen says delivering the festival is now “easier because we are independent.” “In these polarized times, we got caught up in political discussions,” he adds, referring to the NZZ’s right-wing-leaning editorial line. Not that it wasn’t before, of course, but when you belong to a newspaper, and they have strong opinions, you risk becoming collateral damage.” “We found new partners for the first time in five years, which is good because it’s very challenging to finance cultural events,” he went on. It’s more about telling stories together than about visibility.

Ten years ago, they paid money, and you put their logo on the photo wall. Today, they want to offer their employees or clients an emotional evening, and are very interested in having talent on stage. That doesn’t mean just big Hollywood stars.” But it is indeed a starry roster, with the likes of Martin McDonagh, Anna Kendrick, Jesse Eisenberg, Tom Hiddleston and Naomi Watts all landing in the Swiss city over the next few days.

The festival, which kicks off with the European premiere of the Hiddleston-starring “Tenzing,” will host European premieres of several other major fall festival titles, including Chris Rock’s “Misty Green,” Farrelly’s “I Play Rocky” and Lauren Miller Rogen’s “Babies,” starring Kendrick and Seth Rogen. Other major titles such as “Bunker,” “Ink,” “Club Kid,” “The Debut” and “Wild Horse Nine” will also bow at the festival. Jungen remains focused on making Zurich a strong awards launchpad.

We are a real test with audiences, and our positioning is glamorous. For us, it’s important to be a platform with a real audience, but also to have an impact with Academy or Golden Globe voters.” “We are at the end of fall festival season, and many of the decision-makers from the industry who were in Venice went over to Toronto and are maybe doing San Sebastián, and have Zurich as their last stop, where they finally have time to watch a movie,” he notes. This could be the case for ‘I Play Rocky’ or ‘Tenzing.’” Zurich is also a great city for theatrical exhibition, featuring 63 movie theaters for a population of 440,000, making it one of the strongest exhibition capitals in the world.