Luna Wedler to be honored with the Golden Eye Award

Zurich, September 7, 2026 

The Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) is honoring Swiss actress Luna Wedler with the Golden Eye Award. The award will be presented to Wedler by Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider during the Opening Night on September 24. This year, she can be seen in two films at Zurich Film Festival: Frauke Finsterwalder's EUROTRASH and heard in the animated film DE RÄGEBOGEFISCH, in which she voices a character.

Few actresses embody this year's festival motto, 'Dream Big', quite like Luna Wedler. Eleven years ago, at just 15 years old, she made her film debut in AMATEUR TEENS – marking her first premiere at the Zurich Film Festival. Today, the Zurich native ranks among the most acclaimed actresses of her generation in the German-speaking world and has long since made a name for herself internationally. Her performances have earned her honors such as the Swiss Film Award and the Marcello Mastroianni Award at the Venice Film Festival.

With EUROTRASH and DE RÄGEBOGEFISCH, her special connection to the ZFF continues: in total, eight films featuring Luna Wedler have now premiered at the Zurich Film Festival.

«Luna Wedler is the first Swiss actress to receive our Golden Eye Award – an honor that in recent years has gone to Charlotte Gainsbourg, Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, and Dakota Johnson», says Christian Jungen, CEO of the ZFF. «Luna is a Zurich native who has built an international career from our beautiful city, and she stands out for her remarkable versatility. She brings energy and charisma to every character she portrays and continues to captivate us time and again. Although she is still quite young and has a long career ahead of her, we want to tell her with our award on the big stage of Opening Night: Luna, we're proud of you, and we look forward to many more years where we get to see you on screen.»

«Luna Wedler's connection to the Zurich Film Festival has accompanied me since my own beginnings at ZFF. BLUE MY MIND was one of the first films I got to program with the team, and Luna's intensity blew me away even then», says Reta Guetg, Festival Director of ZFF. «I'm especially delighted that this year, she is joining us with not one but two films. In a remarkably short time, she has become one of the most versatile actresses of her generation. She portrays her characters with body and soul unlike anyone else. With this Golden Eye Award, we're honoring an artist who finds herself only at the beginning of a great career.»

Luna Wedler says: «Being honored by the Zurich Film Festival, which has supported and accompanied me since the very start of my career, means so much to me. I can't put into words how deeply this award moves me. This recognition is an incredible honor and gives me even more confidence to keep following my path.»

From ZFF debut to internationally acclaimed actress

Luna Wedler was born in Zurich in 1999. At 14, out of curiosity, she attended a casting call for Niklaus Hilber's AMATEUR TEENS and landed the role of Milena – the film had its world premiere at the Zurich Film Festival in 2015, where it won the Audience Award. For Wedler, this marked the start of a remarkable career. With her very first leading role, in Lisa Brühlmann's BLUE MY MIND (2017), she created a buzz internationally. For her portrayal of Mia, she won the 2018 Swiss Film Award for Best Actress. The film premiered at the Zurich Film Festival, where it won the Golden Eye in the Focus Competition section. That same year, Wedler was named a European Shooting Star at the Berlinale.

Since then, she has moved confidently between ambitious arthouse cinema, international TV series, and major genre films. She took on leading roles in JE SUIS KARL and 22 BAHNEN, and portrayed German resistance fighter Sophie Scholl in the web series ICH BIN SOPHIE SCHOLL. Internationally, she became known to a wide audience as the lead in the Netflix series BIOHACKERS, and most recently appeared in the series ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE. In 2025, another highlight followed with SILENT FRIEND by Ildikó Enyedi. The film premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival, where Wedler won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor or Actress for her performance. At the 2026 Zurich Film Festival, Wedler is featured in two productions. In Frauke Finsterwalder's EUROTRASH, she plays the driver of a writer traveling through Switzerland with his gravely ill mother. She also lends her voice to a character in the animated film DE RÄGEBOGEFISCH. With these two new works, she returns to the festival where her film career began eleven years ago.

The Golden Eye Award at the Zurich Film Festival

The Golden Eye Award honors actors and actresses who shape the current cinematic year while also ranking among the most significant performers of their generation based on their overall body of work. Previous recipients include Jude Law, Kristen Stewart and Dakota Johnson.

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Zurich Film Festival
Susanne Lüscher, PR Manager
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