Turkish drama Hesitation Wound by Selman Nacar has won the Feature Film Competition prize at the 19th Zurich Film Festival.
Hesitiation Wound, which world premiered last month in Venice’s Horizons section, is the story of a female Turkish lawyer fighting both a murder case and her own personal issues.
The Swiss festival awarded the top prize in its Focus competition, which is for films from Switzerland, Germany and Austria, to the Afghanistan set documentary Hollywoodgate by Ibrahim Nash’at.
Hollywoodgate, which world premiered out of competition at the Venice Film Festival, is a portrait of the head of the Taliban airforce commander and a Taliban lieutenant, revealing how the Taliban established its regime in the country.
The Documentary Film Competition was won by Maciek Hamala’s Ukraine war doc In The Rearview which world premiered in June at the Sheffield Doc/Fest.
Each of Zurich’s main three competition sections are for up-and-coming filmmakers presenting their first, second or third directorial works. The winners are each awarded the festival’s Golden Eye trophy which comes with a CHF 20,000 cash prize.
“The aim of the ZFF competition is to discover new directorial talent and make their work known to a broader audience”, said Christian Jungen, artistic director of the ZFF. “Our programming team is delighted with the list of winners, which includes films that have their fingers firmly on the pulse of our time and offer insight into the harsh realities in Afghanistan, Turkey and the Ukraine. We’re certain that these films have a very bright international future.”
Full list of Zurich film festival winners:
Focus Competition
Hollywoodgate
Dir. Ibrahim Nash’at
Special Mention
Laissez-Moi
Dir. Maxime Rappaz
Feature Film Competition
Hesitation Wound
Dir. Selman Nacar
Special Mention:
La Ravissement
Dir. Iris Kaltenbäck
Stolen
Dir. Karan Tejpal
Documentary Film Competition
In The Rearview
Dir. Maciek Hamela
Special Mention:
Queendom
Dir. Agniia Galdanova
Emerging Swiss Talent Award (Critics’ Prize)
Las Toreras
Dir. Jackie Brutsche
ZFF for Kids Jury Award
Dancing Queen
Dir. Aurora Gossé
ZFF for Kids Audience Award
Checker Tobi Und Die Reise Zu Den Fliegenden Flüssen
Dir. Johannes Honsell
Audience Award
Queendom
Dir. Agniia Galdanova
Film Prize of the Churches of Zurich
Las Toreras
Dir. Jackie Brutsche
Best International Film Music
Elliot Murph
No comments yet