Zurich Film Festival Sets Galas Including 'I Play Rocky' and 'Josephine'

Gala lineup and awards-season positioning

The Zurich International Film Festival announced the first slate of gala titles for its upcoming edition, which runs September 24 to October 10, 2026, with festival chief Christian Jungen framing the program as "auteur cinema for a broader audience" aimed at reinforcing Zurich's role as an international awards-season stop. Among the highlights are the European premiere of Peter Farrelly's biographical drama I Play Rocky, starring Anthony Ippolito as a young Sylvester Stallone alongside Matt Dillon and Stephan James, and Josephine, a drama from director Beth de Araújo starring Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan.

The Rocky biographical feature

I Play Rocky follows an unknown actor and aspiring writer named Stallone who is completing a screenplay titled Rocky that a studio is eager to acquire, but who refuses to sell the rights unless he is allowed to play the lead himself. According to the festival announcement, the film chronicles his persistence through rejections and setbacks to bring Rocky Balboa to the screen. The cast also includes AnnaSophia Robb, PJ Byrne, Toby Kebbell, Tracy Letts and Jay Duplass.

The 'Josephine' drama

Josephine centres on an 8-year-old girl who witnesses a violent crime and struggles to regain a sense of security, caught between her emphatic mother, played by Gemma Chan, who wants to help her process the event, and her father, played by Channing Tatum, who believes in preparing her for harsher realities but finds himself overwhelmed. The festival notes that the film screened earlier at Sundance and Berlin, where it was reported as a double winner.

World premieres of two German films

Zurich confirmed world premieres for Love, After All by Andreas Dresen, known for Cloud 9, and How Can I Help? by Doris Dörrie, both produced in Germany. Jungen said the directors' work "is grounded in everyday life and, with a little wink, reflects on the state of our society." The festival also announced the world premiere of Simon Wallon's documentary The Hammer, about famed auctioneer Simon de Pury.

Additional gala titles and Canadian drama

Other galas include Possible Love, described as the new drama from Korean director Lee Chang-dong, whose past credits include Burning, and Wicker, a sci-fi fantasy romantic comedy from directors Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson starring Alexander Skarsgård, Olivia Colman and Elizabeth Debicki. The program additionally features 111 – Echoes from Halifax, a drama from Mexican-Swiss director Mauro Mueller about the September 2, 1998 crash of Swissair Flight 111 off the coast of Nova Scotia, starring Ursina Lardi, Kris Holden-Ried, Djebril Zonga, Fathia Youssouf and Natalie Brown.

Festival dates and next milestone

The Zurich International Film Festival is scheduled to run from September 24 to October 10, 2026. With this first wave of galas confirmed, the next verifiable milestone is the festival's expected announcement of additional titles and programming details ahead of the September opening.