Jake Gyllenhaal will receive the Golden Eye Award at this year’s Zurich Film Festival. The Oscar-nominated actor will be at the festival for a gala screening of his “Stronger,” a movie about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, based on the New York Times bestseller by Patty Bauman and Bret Witter.
Gyllenhaal plays Jeff Bauman in the movie, who lost both legs in the terrorist attack.
Gyllenhaal’s extensive credits include “Brokeback Mountain,” for which he received an Academy Award nomination, “End of the Watch,” “Love and Other Drugs,” and “Nightcrawler,” which screened at Zurich in 2014. More recently he has been in Bong Joon-ho’s Netflix movie “Okja.”
He has just wrapped production on Paul Dano’s directorial debut, “Wildlife,” in which he stars opposite Carey Mulligan, and which is the first effort from his production company Nine Stories. Gyllenhaal will also be in the upcoming Jacques Audiard movie adaptation of Patrick DeWitt novel “The Sisters Brothers.”
“Jake Gyllenhaal has consistently proven himself to be one of the most exciting and versatile actors working today,” said ZFF co-directors Nadja Schildknecht and Karl Spoerri in a statement. “We are thrilled to present him with the Golden Eye Award and present ‘Stronger’ as part of the festival.”
The Zurich Film Festival runs from Sept. 28 to Oct. 8. “Borg/McEnroe” is the opening movie, and other titles for the 13th edition include Andrew Garfield-starrer “Breathe.” Garfield will also receive the Golden Eye accolade this year, and attend a gala screening of the movie.
Glenn Close will be in Zurich with her new movie “The Wife,” and will be honored with the Golden Icon Award at the festival.
An industry summit will run concurrently with Zurich for the fourth time, with ProSiebenSat.1 CEO Thomas Ebeling, Sony Pictures Classic’s co-president Michael Barker, Lionsgate chairman Patrick Wachsberger, and CAA’s Roeg Sutherland among those taking part.