Richard Linklater Gets Golden Eye at Zurich Film Festival
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- Richard Linklater will receive the Career Achievement Award — the Golden Eye — at this year's Zurich Film Festival, accepting in person on Sept. 28 at the Filmpodium Zürich.
- The Zurich Film Festival is presenting an extensive retrospective of Linklater's work in collaboration with Filmpodium Zürich and the Cinémathèque Suisse, and Linklater will lead a public masterclass during the event.
- Christian Jungen, CEO of the ZFF, called Linklater "one of the most visionary and formative directors of American independent cinema" and revealed that "Before Sunrise" is his favorite film — the movie through which he met his wife.
- Linklater's filmography spans from "Slacker" (1991) and "Dazed and Confused" (1993) through the Silver Bear-winning "Before Sunrise" (1995), the 12-year production "Boyhood" (2014, Best Film Oscar nominee), and most recently "Hit Man" (2023) and "Nouvelle Vague" (2025).
- Linklater said he had "always wanted to attend" the Zurich festival after meeting Jungen at the Golden Globes, calling the European audience something that has "meant so much to me throughout my career."
Why it matters: For European cinephiles, the Sept. 28 ceremony and accompanying retrospective give rare in-person access to Linklater's full filmography with the director present — pairing the lifetime honor with a masterclass and screenings that frame him as a formative figure in American independent cinema for a new continental audience.
