Tom Quinn

Source: Source: Courtesy of Neon

Tom Quinn

For film industry execs, one of the key focuses of the Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) is its annual Summit conference held at the five-star Dolder Grand Hotel overlooking the city. 

The boutique conference, running September 26-28, brings together a high-profile lineup of film producers, sales executives, creatives and financiers from the film, entertainment and technology sectors.

Among the speakers this year are Neon founder and CEO Tom Quinn, Sony Pictures Classics co-president Michael Barker, 193 founder Patrick Wachsberger, mk2 chairman Nathanael Karmitz and Berlinale director Tricia Tuttle. 

New for this year is what ZFF vice director Reta Guetg calls a “little add-on” – a closed-door Film Fund Forum that takes place on Friday (September 26). The Forum will play to the city of Zurich’s strength as a major hub for finance and wealth management by bringing together producers and film industry execs with private investors.

The festival has curated a group of private investors, many of whom are hard to access or publicity shy but who would like to learn more about film financing and investment opportunities.

“We’re a city with over 100 private banks. Zurich is the world capital of wealth management,” adds ZFF festival director Christian Jungen, who says it was “actually very hard to convince them to come”.

For film execs, the opportunity to meet with Swiss investors is obvious. “Independent film financiers are looking for the solid, boring Swiss money with no drama attached because financing has become a bit of the wild west,” says Jungen.

But there is also interest from the Swiss side. Investing in film is a way to make a difference, suggests Guetg. “For some of these financiers and family offices, there is much more interest in being impactful again,” she says.

For the Summit itself, Jungen and Guetg say they both felt a sense of urgency among execs wanting to come together to discuss a series of hot topics for the industry.

Topical sessions include one on politics and entertainment. In the month that Jimmy Kimmel’s US talk show was suspended by ABC, David Unger, CEO of Artist International Group, and Nathanaël Karmitz, chairman of mk2, will discuss how the entertainment industry should navigate through times of political turmoil. Film data research Stephen Follows will also give a keynote on whether ‘woke’ themes affect box office.

The two hot topics of 2025 – the impact of AI and competition from YouTube – will also be key talking points during the Summit, alongside more typical sessions on film finance, festivals, sales and distribution.

Meanwhile, Neon’s Quinn will be feted with the Game Changer Award during the Summit.

Says Jungen: “In a world where one round of layoffs is following the next, and everybody is concerned about the state of independent cinema, [Tom] proves that you can still have commercial successes with very challenging auteur cinema. He succeeds in genre cinema. He succeeds with classic auteur cinema. He takes risks. He has had six Palme d’Ors in a row. We feel it’s the right moment to celebrate him and to put him on the podium.”

The Summit will gather together around 150 executives. “The ticket was hotter than in other years,” says Jungen. For him, it’s proof that there is a need to talk after the late summer festival frenzy of Venice, Telluride and Toronto.

“Zurich is the last stop for many of them – it’s a moment to take some time to digest what is going on and to exchange with others.”

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