Kate Winslet receives Golden Icon Award at Zurich Film Festival

Winslet said that her latest film, Lee, is the most important of her career. Keystone-SDA / Til Buergy

British actress Kate Winslet presented her new film Lee at the Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) and received the Golden Icon Award for lifetime achievement on Monday evening. She also got up close and personal with the audience, shaking hands, signing autographs and taking selfies.

The Oscar-winning actress’s visit is “one of the highlights of ZFF’s 20-year history”, said Festival Artistic Director Christian Jungen in a speech at the Palais des Congrès on Monday evening. In the afternoon, Winslet dove into 15-degree Celsius water in Lake Zurich.

Film about photographer Miller

The 49-year-old film star turned serious when she held up the Golden Icon Award. She said that in her luggage was the important film of her career. Lee is a biopic about the American war photographer Lee Miller (1907-1977), who was best known as a former fashion model but who also documented the liberation of the Buchenwald and Dachau concentration camps.

Producer and lead actress Kate Winslet invested around ten years in the project. Miller’s son, Anthony Penrose, was also present. His story is also unique, as he only learned what his mother did during the Second World War after her death.

Since her death, he has wanted to film her story (he himself published a book about her called The Lives of Lee Miller). Before meeting Kate Winslet, he had turned down countless film offers over the years.