The 13th Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) has come to an end. Quite some exciting films premiered in Zurich this year and glamorous events took place. My favorite event of the “ZFF” was the annual „For The Love of Cinema“ Gala by IWC Schaffhausen. It’s been the 4th year in a row, that I attended IWC’s legendary ZFF Dinner which always is a nice surprise. This year’s surprise guest was the Hollywood actor James Marsden. My male readers might recognize him from films such as „Superman Returns“ and “X-Men” or the trending TV-series “Westworld”. The ladies definitely know him from his roles at „The Notebook“ and „The Best of Me“. 😉

James not only presented his premiering film „Shock and Awe“ in Zurich, but also, as an Ambassador of IWC Schaffhausen, the „Filmmaker Award“. For the third time the Filmmaker Award has been presented in Zurich, which is endowed with a CHF 100,000 prize and established by the Association for the Promotion of Film in Switzerland (Verein zur Filmförderung in der Schweiz) and aims to support Swiss film projects in an advances stage of production.

Out of three finalists (others were: „Le vent tourne“ and „Der Unschuldige“) the Filmmaker Award went to: „Paradise War“ produced by Valentin Greutert. „The film tells the eventful story of the Swiss-born Bruno Manser who spent many years in Malaysia, where he joined the indigenous Penan people in their non-violent battle against deforestation of the rainforest, which is the home to many endangered species such as the orangutan. Manser disappeared without trace during his last visit to the rainforest and has remained missing till this day.“

An exciting story that we cannot wait to see on the international screens soon. All because of the generous commitment of IWC Schaffhausen that has a long history of supporting the film-industry.

Besides extraordinary musical entertainment (best movie scenes and songs of all time), Chris-Grainger Herr, who stepped into his new role as IWC Schaffhausen CEO earlier this year, spoke about anecdotes of his childhood and the award: „The projects submitted this year were of such high quality and so diverse that it was again difficult for us to choose a winner. We hope that the Filmmaker Award will help bring Bruno Manser’s story to Cinema screens in Switzerland as well as abroad.“

I hosted a table with ten extraordinary business ladies and friends at the Gala Dinner and we enjoyed the evening very much.

Thank you, IWC Schaffhausen.

Also, special thanks to Mercedes Benz Switzerland for the best S-Class Limousine Service, that my guests and I enjoyed during this night.

What I’m wearing:

Watch: IWC Portofino 37 Automatic Day & Night
Jewelry: Gübelin High Jewelry “Mystical Garden”
Dress: Dior Couture
Clutch: Dior
Hair: Villa Valentino
Make-Up: Dior