The 22nd Zurich Film Festival awarded its top narrative prize, the Golden Eye, to Pierre Le Gall’s “Flesh and Fuel,” marking the director’s feature debut. The film, which premiered in Cannes’ Critics’ Week section, tells the story of a French long-distance truck driver named Étienne whose solitary existence changes when he encounters Bartosz, a Polish truck driver. Their initial meeting develops into a cross-border romantic relationship. The film stars Alexis Manenti, an actor who previously won a César for Most Promising Actor for his role in “Les Misérables.”
The narrative film jury praised the work for its examination of human connection in an era marked by isolation and self-protection. The panel, which included directors Cary Joji Fukunaga and Fernando Eimbcke, actress Ella Rumpf, producer Julie Billy, and film editor and screenwriter Walter Fasano, noted that the film explores the psychological and emotional boundaries individuals construct around themselves with what they described as considerable cinematic artistry.
In the documentary category, Pete Muller’s “Bucks Harbor” received the Golden Eye. The film, which previously screened at the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama section and won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury there, examines life in a fishing village in Downeast Maine. According to festival organizers, the work presents the lives of residents shaped by severe winters and restrictive family structures. The documentary jury highlighted the film’s portrayal of fragile masculinity within an economically disadvantaged rural North American community confronting climate change and declining job prospects.
Other awards distributed at the festival included the Audience Award to Andrina Mračnikar’s “Mila/Marija,” the Critics Jury Award to Heinz Bütler’s “Ebjä! Adolf Wölfli,” and the Science Award to “We Are Stardust” by Elisabeth Rasmussen. Festival director Reta Guetg remarked on the caliber of filmmaking represented among the prize winners and noted the participation of established international directors at the event, describing such intergenerational interactions as central to the festival’s identity.
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