Zurich Film Festival has announced that it will honour Oscar-nominated filmmaker Noah Baumbach with an A Tribute to … Award.
Celebrating Baumbach’s “outstanding body of work”, ZFF will present the award on 26 September during the gala for his new film Jay Kelly at the Kongresshaus.
In a press release, ZFF said: “Noah Baumbach has been one of the most distinctive voices in American cinema for decades. With films such as The Squid and the Whale, Frances Ha and Marriage Story, he has made film history and become synonymous with finely tuned yet humorous relationship dramas.
“Baumbach’s Marriage Story received six Academy Award nominations, with Laura Dern winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 2020. Time and again, Baumbach succeeds in blending intimate everyday stories with existential questions–brought to life by outstanding actors such as Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver, Nicole Kidman, Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, Dustin Hoffman and Greta Gerwig.”
Baumbach’s latest film, Jay Kelly, sees George Clooney play a famous movie actor, Jay Kelly, as he embarks on a journey of self-discovery confronting both his past and present, accompanied by his devoted manager Ron (Adam Sandler).
The comedy is considered one of the major Oscar contenders of the season.
On providing the director with an A Tribute to … Award, Christian Jungen, festival director of the ZFF, said: “With Noah Baumbach, we are honouring an auteur who has shaped US cinema for decades with his subtle insight into human relationships and his precise powers of observation.
“Jay Kelly is, in my opinion, one of the outstanding films of the year and one of those works that, looking back, will be regarded as a masterpiece.”
This is not the only prestigious honour being handed out at the festival, which takes place between 25 September and 5 October–it was previously revealed that Dakota Johnson will receive the Golden Eye for her role in Splitsville and her “outstanding” career so far.
