The Zurich Film Festival has added 12 films to its Gala Premieres section, including Florian Zeller’s “Bunker,” starring Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz, Danny Boyle’s “Ink,” starring Jack O’Connell, Guy Pearce and Claire Foy, and the European premiere of Lauren Miller Rogen’s “Babies,” starring Anna Kendrick and Seth Rogen.
Also screening is Noah Segan’s “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York,” with John Turturro and Steve Buscemi, and the world premieres of Frauke Finsterwalder’s “Eurotrash” and “Blood Money,” starring rapper Noizy and Moritz Bleibtreu.
Reta Guetg, festival director of the Zurich Film Festival, said, “With these 12 additional Gala Premieres, we are bringing outstanding voices and stories from different parts of the world to Zurich. The program ranges from the promising ‘Club Kid’ by Jordan Firstman to new works by acclaimed filmmakers such as Ali Asgari, whose latest film will premiere in competition in Venice. The films also feature major names in front of the camera, including Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem and John Turturro.”
The full program of the 22nd ZFF will be published on Sept. 9.
BUNKER
Thriller
France/Spain, 2026
Director: Florian Zeller
Cast: Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Stephen Graham, Paul Dano, Patrick Schwarzenegger
A renowned architect is offered the chance to secretly design a survival bunker for a billionaire who is convinced that the end of the world is near. As he lets himself be seduced by this morally ambiguous project, his wife begins to question their marriage. After 17 years together, do they still share the same values? The same ambitions? The same dreams?
BABIES
European Premiere
Comedy
U.S., 2026
Director: Lauren Miller Rogen
Cast: Anna Kendrick, Seth Rogen, Issa Rae, Dan Stevens, Kate Berlant, Zach Cherry, Ed Helms, Ashley Park, Sharon Stone, David Strathairn
A happily married couple surrounded by friends with kids are forced to confront their indecision about becoming parents when their divorced friend and her daughter move in with them.
INK
Drama
U.K., France, U.S., 2026
Director: Danny Boyle
Cast: Jack O’Connell, Guy Pearce, Claire Foy
An explosive cinematic rollercoaster about a group of visionaries and misfits who had an idea for a new kind of news – one that would give the people what they wanted and would change the face of the world we live in today.
CLUB KID
Comedy, Drama, LGBTQIA+
U.S., 2026
Director: Jordan Firstman
Cast: Jordan Firstman, Cara Delevigne, Diego Calva
The life of a washed-up New York underground party promoter is thrown off balance when he unexpectedly finds himself responsible for a son whose existence he never knew about. Faced with this new situation, he’s forced to reconsider his lifestyle and rise to the demands of a role that’s completely foreign to him – all while trying to salvage his career along the way.
A BIT OF LIGHT
Drama
Iran/Switzerland/Italy/Canada/Turkey, 2026
Director: Ali Asgari
Cast: Misagh Zareh, Sadaf Asgari, Forouzan Jamshidnejad, Ramtin Daghigh, Mina Rahimzadeh
After being arrested and having his medical practice shut down, a disillusioned Iranian doctor (played by Misagh Zareh from “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”) loses faith in the future. Determined to end his life, he spends one final day visiting his siblings and mother to prepare them for his departure. Their compassion, care and companionship slowly reconcile him with reality.
THE ONLY LIVING PICKPOCKET IN NEW YORK
Crime, Thriller
U.S., 2026
Director: Noah Segan
Cast: John Turturro, Steve Buscemi, Giancarlo Esposito, Will Price, Tatiana Maslany
Harry Lehman (Turturro) is an aging pickpocket who plies his trade with ever-diminishing returns in a drastically changed New York. Wallets stuffed with cash have been replaced by easily canceled credit cards, and Harry struggles to make ends meet as he cares for his disabled wife, Rosie. When he unwittingly purloins and fences a valuable USB stick, Harry finds himself in a race against time to return the loot or face the rage of a vengeful crime family.
LES MISÉRABLES
Drama, History, Thriller
France, 2026
Director: Fred Cavayé
Cast: Vincent Lindon, Tahar Rahim, Camille Cottin, Benjamin Lavernhe, Noémie Merlant, Vassili Schneider, Megan Northam, Marie Colomb
After spending 19 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread, Jean Valjean is being released a hardened man. Seeking redemption, he reinvents himself under a new identity as a reputable dignitary. He promises Fantine, a dying factory worker, that he will rescue and protect her daughter Cosette, who is being exploited and mistreated by the treacherous Thénardier family. While Valjean is raising Cosette as his own, he continues to be relentlessly hunted by inspector Javert. Amid the social unrest gripping France, the fates of Valjean, Cosette, her lover Marius, and Javert become entangled in the turbulent, revolutionary streets of Paris. Through struggle, sacrifice, and an unwavering yearning for justice, Valjean strives to complete his path to redemption and give Cosette a future filled with love and freedom.
BLOOD MONEY
World Premiere
Urban Boxing Drama
Albania, 2026
Director: Enkelejd Lluca
Cast: Blerim Destani, Noizy (Rigels Rajku), Moritz Bleibtreu, Kida Khodr Ramadan, Kaona Sulejmani, Veysel Gelin, Islam Dulatov, Suan Raca, Xheni Fama, Ndriçim Xhepa, Kastriot Çaushi
In Durrës, ex-convict Arion is drawn into The Circle, a brutal underground fighting arena, by Ilir, a charming gambler desperate for one last big score. As Arion’s victories turn him into a local legend, money, fame and betrayal threaten to destroy them both. When he is offered a fortune to lose the final fight, Arion must choose between escape and the one thing he has been fighting for all along: his dignity.
EUROTRASH
World Premiere
Drama
Germany/Switzerland, 2026
Director: Frauke Finsterwalder
Cast: Barbara Sukowa, Alexander Fehling, Luna Wedler, Stefan Kurt
When writer Philipp is forced to realize that he and his wealthy family are the worst kind of people, he sets off with his terminally ill and hopelessly drunk mother Helene on a breathtaking road trip through Switzerland. In their attempt to give away her accumulated fortune, the two encounter eccentric characters, magic comes into play, and in the end they find their way to each other. “Eurotrash” is a dizzying journey into psychosis, a hall of mirrors of personal and universal reckoning, and a film about the tenderness and cruelty of a dying mother and her son. Based on the novel of the same name by Christian Kracht.
ADULT SUPERVISION
Drama
Sweden, 2026
Writer and Director: Alex Schulmann
Cast: Gustaf Skarsgård, Fares Fares, Linus Wahlgren
When three middle-aged fathers chaperone their teenage daughters on a rowdy school trip to a remote archipelago island, tensions quickly escalate into something sinister and their grip on the situation begins to slip. As they are pulled into conflicts that stir dark memories from their own pasts, the boundaries between play and dangerous power struggles dissolve — and victims and perpetrators become impossible to tell apart.
THINK GOOD (SI TU PENSES BIEN)
Drama
France/Belgium, 2026
Director: Géraldine Nakache
Cast: Monia Chokri, Niels Schneider, Clémentine Célarié, Christian Benedetti, Thaïs Garfinkel, Oussama Kheddam, Mina Kavani
When Gil meets Jacques, their love is self-evident. But the intensity of those early days gives way to a relationship in which she feels increasingly trapped until she loses her bearings. Jacques reassures her: if she thinks good, only good will come to her. Little by little, Gil comes to understand the control he exerts over her life.
BACK TO BUENOS AIRES (RITORNO A BUENOS AIRES)
International Premiere
Drama
Italy/Brazil, 2026
Regie: Mario Bechis
Cast: Adriano Giannini, Ana Celentano, Veronica Gerez, Olivia Nuss, Adrian Fondari, Marcelo Chaparro, Paula Cohen, Vijaya Bechis Boll, Marcela Serli, Maria Layla Fernandez, Eduardo Hoy
Buenos Aires, 2008. After 33 years spent in Italy, Mariano Guerra, an Italian doctor, returns to Argentina to testify at the trial against the former military officers who abducted, tortured and enslaved him during the military dictatorship. Together with other survivors, he is housed in accommodations provided by the Ministry of Justice, where he reunites with people who shared his captivity, and awaits the day of his deposition. The days spent with the other witnesses as well as the encounters and testimonies shed light on events that had remained unresolved for decades. Mariano is one of the few survivors of that tragedy, and he carries a burden that no verdict can ease. His return to Buenos Aires forces him to confront what it means to have remained alive.
The 22nd edition will take place from Sept. 24 to Oct. 4.
English (US) ·