Zurich Film Festival announces full lineup

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Zurich Film Festival on Thursday, September 8 unveiled its full lineup, which promises the mix of U.S. Oscar bait and European arthouse delights that the Swiss event has become known for, The Hollywood Reporter said.

Among the highlights of this year's festival are Garth Davis' Lion starring Slumdog Millionaire's Dev Patel alongside Rooney Mara and Nicole Kidman, which will open festival on Sept. 22; Peter Berg's Deepwater Horizon, a look at the 2010 explosion and sinking of the BP-operated oil rig off the Gulf of Mexico, which killed 11 people; and LBJ, Rob Reiner's political biopic starring Woody Harrelson as the 36th president of the United States, Lyndon Baines Johnson.

All three will have their European premieres in Zurich, alongside such features as Werner Herzog's thriller Salt and Fire, starring and Michael Shannon, Veronica Ferres and Gael Garcia Bernal; and Forever Pure, a documentary by U.K. filmmaker Maya Zinshtein on the chaos that hit Israel soccer club Beitar Jerusalem F.C. when it broke its own unwritten rule and signed two Muslim players to the team.

Over the years, Zurich has carved out an impressive niche for socially-conscious non-fiction films, and the 12th edition is no exception. In addition to Forever Pure, this year's fest includes Jerome Salle's deep sea environmental doc The Odyssey, Good Fortune, from The Big Fix and Fuel directing team Josh and Rebecca Harrell Tickell; and Borderland Blues, a look at tensions on the U.S.-Mexican border from German filmmaker Gudrun Gruber.

Among the VIPs expected this year are Hugh Grant and Daniel Radcliffe, who will both receive lifetime achievement awards and will attend to present their new films: Grant with Florence Foster Jenkins and Radcliffe with both Imperium and Swiss Army Man.

Acclaimed French director Olivier Assayas will be honored with a retrospective that will include his latest drama, Personal Shopper, starring Kristen Stewart and Lars Eidinger. And Deepwater Horizon producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, whose long list of credits includes the Transformers, G.I. Joe and RED franchises, will also be honored with Zurich's Golden Eye award for his life's work.

The 12th Zurich Film Festival runs Sept. 22-Oct. 2.