The ZFF is co-organized by the Zurich Film Festival AG, which is a member of the NZZ Mediengruppe, and the Spoundation Motion Picture AG, a marketing and event management company, in cooperation with local institutions, sponsors as well as national and international distributors and producers.

[3] For the 20th anniversary edition in 2024, the ZFF set a new record with a historic milestone of 140,000 visitors attending the festival, which featured a total of 107 films.

[4] In 2004, Karl Spoerri and Tim Geser decided to bring the English digital film festival onedotzero_adventures in moving images to Zürich.

The young Zurich Film Festival took a big leap in 2007 when it was held for the first time over the length of 11 days.

For the first time, the Zurich Film Festival had a centre in the heart of the city: a large tent on Rathausplatz became the meeting place for cinema enthusiasts and filmmakers.

In 2009, the Zurich Film Festival was overshadowed and at the same time made world famous by a particularly unfortunate incident.

So far, the focus has been on the following topics: #Masculinity (2023) | #MyReligion (2022) | #letSEXplore (2021) | #GetUpStandUp (2020) | #SpeakingTheTruth (2019) | #BigData (2018) New World View The "New World View" programme puts a spotlight on a new generation of filmmakers from a selected production country that has provided some of the most innovative new filmmaking in recent years.

The section has been dedicated to the following countries: Korea (2023) | Spain (2022) | Tunisia (2021) | France (2020) | Colombia (2019) | Italy (2018) | Hungary (2017) | Mexico (2016) | Iran (2015) | India (2014) | Brazil (2013) | Sweden (2012) | Turkey (2011) | Australia (2010) | Argentina (2009) | Israel (2008) | Russia (2007) Border Lines The "Border Lines" section presents films dealing with border situations occurring in present-day world conditions, and humanitarian projects, territorial and social conflicts, and conflicts between individuals and the state.

ZFF for Kids At the 9th Zurich Film Festival, the children's programme was expanded with a separate audience award.

The A Tribute to… Award (formerly Retrospektive) honours filmmaking personalities who have had a significant influence on film history.

The award winners receive the prize in person in Zürich and usually take part as speakers at the ZFF Masters, where they share their experiences and knowledge with the participants.

This award goes to a person who has become the icon of an entire generation and whose performance and cinematic work has become unforgettable.

The Lifetime Achievement Award honours the life and work of personalities from various fields who have particularly enriched and shaped filmmaking and film history.

The Golden Eyes are awarded by an international competition jury, which views the films together with the audience during the festival in Zurich.

The Zurich Summit, launched in 2014, traditionally takes place on the first weekend of the Festival at the Dolder Grand Hotel.

Topics include production and investment strategies, film financing and risk minimisation, distribution and European co-productions.

The ZFF Masters are open to the public and are aimed at the film industry as well as the entire festival audience.

In addition, the winner received a development contract worth up to CHF 25,000 to write a script for a long feature film for TV or cinema.

The choice of genre was free: everything from scenic films and documentary formats to CGI and stop-motion was permitted.