Zurich Film Festival will honor French director, producer and actress Maïwenn with The A Tribute to… Award for her contribution to the resurgence of auteur cinema, and screen her directorial works in a retrospective. Maïwenn receives the award on October 1, and presents her most recent film ADN (DNA).

Maïwenn begun her career as an actress at the beginning of the eighties, appearing in such films as Léon and The Fifth Element. She has worked as a director since 2004, and won the Jury Prize at Cannes for Polisse 2011, as well as two Césars in 2012. She is the spearhead of a new generation of auteur filmmakers telling often autobiographical stories.

“Maïwenn is one of French cinema’s most multifaceted filmmakers. She writes her own screenplays and often plays a role in and directs her own movies. With her finger on the pulse of time, her stories spring straight from life and resonate with an urgency that captivates audiences,” explained Artistic Director Christian Jungen. “She is also a gifted director who is able to get the very best from her character actors.”

Maïwenn will receive the award on October 1, at the Arthouse Le Paris theatre, and discuss her career during a ZFF Masters session on the same day. She will also present her most recent autobiographical film ADN (DNA), in which she also plays the leading role. The film revolves around an Algerian-born Frenchwoman who, after the death of her Algerian grandfather, longs to discover more about his homeland. Fanny Ardant, Louis Garrel and Marine Vacth embody further characters in the film. This is Maïwenn’s second visit to the ZFF after presenting her relationship drama Mon Roi as a Gala Premiere in 2015.

The ZFF screens Maïwenn’s early directorial works Pardonnez-moi (2006), Le Bal des actrices (2009), Polisse (2011) and Mon Roi (2015) in a retrospective. Distributed by Frenetic Films, her most recent movie ADN (DNA) hits cinemas in French-speaking Switzerland on October 28.

The Zurich Film Festival presents The A Tribute to… Award to auteur filmmakers for their contribution to film history. Former recipients include Wim Wenders, Olivier Assayas, Claire Denis, Michael Haneke and Oliver Stone.

The 16th edition of the ZFF takes place from September 24 until October 4, 2020.