Andreas Dresen’s Love, After All, starring Dagmar Manzel and Joachim Król, and Doris Dörrie’s How Can I Help? starring Angela Winkler, Laura Tonke and Josef Ellers, will both world premiere at this year’s Zurich Film Festival (ZFF), taking place from September 24 to October 4 in Switzerland.
They will screen as part of the Gala Premieres programme that also includes the international premiere of Swiss director Mauro Mueller’s 111 – Echoes From Halifax. The film follows several people involved in the Swissair plane disaster of 1998 in Canada. It will world premiere at the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia in September.
”From a Swiss perspective, 111 - Echoes From Halifax deserves special mention,” said Christian Jungen, CEO of the ZFF. ”From multiple perspectives, the film sheds light on a major event that shook our nation: the crash of a Swissair aircraft near Halifax.”
Love, After All is about a couple experiencing marital problems who must put aside their issues and work together when they discover their daughter is getting married for a third time.
How Can I Help? Follows a woman who is put in the care of a robot by her overwhelmed daughter following a fall.
”We are particularly delighted that two major figures of German auteur cinema, Andreas Dresen and Doris Dörrie, have entrusted us with the world premieres of their new films,” said Jungen. “Their films are grounded in everyday life and, with a little wink, reflect on the state of our society.”
Further titles screening in the Gala programme include Peter Farrelly’s I Play Rocky starring Anthony Ippolito, and Beth De Araújo’s Josephine starring Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan.
”The Gala Premieres section is dedicated to auteur cinema for a broader audience,” Jungen explained. ”We present films that will play an important role later in the award season, such as I Play Rocky, which tells the story behind the making of the cult classic starring Sylvester Stallone, which won the Academy Award for best picture in 1977.”
The festival previously announced Martin McDonagh will receive the festival’s A Tribute To … Award during a gala premiere of his latest film,Wild Horse Nine.
The full programme will be unveiled on September 9.
ZFF Galas 2026
I Play Rocky (US)
Dir. Peter Farrelly
Josephine (US)
Dir. Beth De Araújo
111 – Echoes From Halifax (Swi-Can)
Dir. Mauro Mueller
Company (US-UAE)
Dir. Casey Affleck
Possible Love (S Kor)
Dir. Lee Chang-dong
Love, After All (Ger)
Dir. Andreas Dresen
It Will Happen Tonight (It-Fr-Sp)
Dir. Nanni Moretti
Burgundy (Fr)
Dir. Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw
How Can I Help? (Ger)
Dir. Doris Dörrie
The Hammer (Fr-US)
Dir. Simon Wallen
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