Turkish director Selman Nacar wins top award at Zurich Film Festival

Selman Nacar receives Zurich Film Festival award for his film Hesitation Wound, October 7, 2023. © Keystone / Ennio Leanza

Turkish director Selman Nacar has won a top award at the Zurich Film Festival for his feature film Hesitation Wound. Hollywoodgate by Egyptian director Ibrahim Nash'at and the documentary In the Rearview by Polish Maciek Hamela also received top honours on Saturday.

Christian Jungen, the festival’s artistic director, praised this year’s winners, which he said were “in tune with the times” on the “harsh realities” of Turkey, Afghanistan and Ukraine. The Golden Eye award, the festival’s most prestigious distinction, worth CHF25,000, was awarded to these films which competed in three different categories (fiction, focus, documentary).

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The jury for fiction films, chaired by the filmmaker Anton Corbijn, praised Hesitation Wound for its the criticism of Turkish religious society which is “presented with humour”. The film by Selman Nacar – his second – features a lawyer, a strong character facing family affairs and work ethics in a patriarchal society. The jury also praised actress Tülin Özen for her “magnificent” performance as a lawyer.

The American-German co-production “Hollywoodgate” by Egyptian documentary filmmaker Ibrahim Nash’at follows two Taliban leaders for a year following the evacuation of American and allied forces from Afghanistan. In the film the audience is a direct witness to the process by which the Taliban establish their regime, said the jury chaired by the German Malte Grunert.

Leave me by Geneva filmmaker Maxime Rappaz, who was also included in this category reserved for Swiss, German and Austrian fiction and documentaries, received a special mention.

The festival, which took place this year from September 28 to October 8, presented 148 films, including 52 European and world premieres. Swiss cinema was well represented with 18 films, including five from French-speaking Switzerland.

Well-known actors and directors, such as Jessica Chastain, Diane Kruger, Todd Haynes, Ethan Hawke, Wim Wenders and Peter Saarsgard, travelled to Zurich for the 19th edition of the festival.

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