The Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) announced today that legendary screen icon Sylvester Stallone will receive the inaugural Golden Icon Award at this year’s Festival, taking place September 25 – October 5. The announcement was made by ZFF Founder and Managing Director Karl Spoerri.

Serving as the Festival’s most prestigious symbol of recognition, honoring the lifetime achievements of an actor or actress, the Golden Icon Award will be inaugurated with Stallone’s acceptance on the public opening night of the Festival, Friday, September 26th. As part of the award ceremony, the Festival will pay tribute to Stallone’s unprecedented achievements as a legendary actor and filmmaker and will present a special retrospective on Friday, September 26, which will include installments of the “Rocky” series, as well as “Rambo” and “Cop Land”. The retrospective will open with the worldwide premiere of the director’s cut of Stallone’s latest “Rambo” film. The films will be screened for audiences at Zurich’s most beautiful venue - the Corso Cinema.

Festival Directors Nadja Schildknecht and Karl Spoerri commented, “We are absolutely honored to welcome incomparable Hollywood icon Sylvester Stallone as the first Golden Icon Award winner and Zurich Master Class lecturer at our young Film Festival.”


Sylvester Stallone is an Academy Award® nominated screenwriter, director, actor and producer who brought to life two characters that have become a part of the American cultural lexicon: Rocky Balboa and John Rambo.

Stallone has established worldwide recognition since he played the title role in his own screenplay of “Rocky”, which was nominated for ten Academy Awards®, and took home Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Film Editing. He has since remained one of Hollywood’s most enduring stars.

In addition to his notable “Rocky” and “Rambo” series, Stallone has starred in a number of blockbuster hits and in the challenging and compelling role of Freddy Heflin in the feature film “Cop Land,” which garnered him international critical and audience acclaim.

Stallone most recently reprised his signature roles as Rocky Balboa and John Rambo in “Rocky Balboa” and “Rambo” in the respective big screen finales of the iconic franchises.

Filmmakers recognized for special achievement at past Zurich Film Festivals include Academy Award® winner Oliver Stone and multiple Academy Award® nominee Stephen Frears.

Entering just its fourth year, the Zurich Film Festival has established itself as a marquee European Festival, discovering and promoting independent voices and talent from around the world and showcasing a diverse array of international films. ZFF continues to serve as the setting for many World and European premieres.

About the Zurich Film Festival
The Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) is one of the most important upcoming international film festivals, held annually in Zurich, Switzerland. The main objective of the festival is to support young directors and writers from all over the world.

The Zurich Film Festival is organised by Spoundation Motion Picture GmbH, based in Zurich, in cooperation with local institutions and sponsors. The Zurich Film Festival cooperates with numerous distributors and producers from Switzerland and abroad. The idea to found a festival in Zurich came from Karl Spoerri. Today, the festival directors are Karl Spoerri (creative director) and Nadja Schildknecht (public relations, marketing and sponsoring). Find out more at www.zurichfilmfestival.org.