#zff2026

credits @zff

The Zurich Film Festival has confirmed its first eleven Gala Premieres titles for this year's edition, running September 24 to October 4.

Highlights

I PLAY ROCKY, directed by Peter Farrelly, follows a young Sylvester Stallone as he refuses to sell his Rocky script unless he's allowed to play the lead role himself.

JOSEPHINE, starring Channing Tatum, is a family drama about an eight-year-old who witnesses a violent crime. The film already premiered to strong reviews at Sundance. (RMC review)

WICKER stars Olivia Colman as a fisherwoman who commissions a husband made of wicker from the local basketmaker, played by Peter Dinklage. Alexander Skarsgård plays the finished result!

Two German World Premieres

LOVE, AFTER ALL, directed by Andreas Dresen, stars Dagmar Manzel and Joachim Król as a couple nearly 40 years into their marriage, navigating old arguments and their daughter's plans to marry for a third time.

HOW CAN I HELP?, directed by Doris Dörrie, follows an elderly woman who is given a care robot after a fall. She grows fond of him, then learns he's also programmed to end her life if her health declines too far.

Also Screening

111 – ECHOES FROM HALIFAX (Mauro Mueller) — a drama about the 1998 Swissair Flight 111 crash, told from the perspective of grieving relatives and the Canadian community that received them.

COMPANY (Casey Affleck) — a mystery told through stories nested inside other stories, spanning several decades.

POSSIBLE LOVE (Lee Chang-dong) — the director's first film in eight years, following two married couples after a funeral brings them together.

IT WILL HAPPEN TONIGHT (Nanni Moretti) — a romance starring Louis Garrel and Jasmine Trinca.

BURGUNDY (Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw) — a documentary following newcomers to winemaking and hospitality in the Burgundy region.

THE HAMMER (Simon Wallon) — a documentary portrait of auctioneer Simon de Pury, filmed in New York, Tokyo, London, Cannes, Miami, and Monaco.

When to Mark Your Calendar