Acclaimed British actor Benedict Cumberbatch will be honored at this year’s Zurich Film Festival with the festival’s Golden Eye award.
The two-time Oscar nominee will receive the honor in person in Zurich on Sept. 29 and will present his latest feature, The Thing With Feathers, which he also produced through his company SunnyMarch and Lobo Films. Cumberbatch will also take part in Zurich’s masterclass program, ZFF Masters.
“Benedict Cumberbatch is one of the most versatile character actors of his generation. He comes from the theater, masters his craft in every role and gives his characters emotional depth – whether as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game or as superhero Doctor Strange in the Marvel universe,” said Zurich festival director Christian Jungen. “We have shown many of his films at the ZFF in recent years and are delighted to be able to welcome him to Zurich in person for the first time – both as an actor and as the producer of The Thing With Feathers.”
Benedict Cumberbatch in ‘The Thing with Feathers.’
Anthony Dickenson/Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Seven of Cumberbatch’s films, from 2007’s Atonement through 2021’s The Power of the Dog, have screened at the Zurich festival, but this will mark the actor’s first in-person visit.
“I am honoured to be invited to the Zurich Film Festival to receive the Golden Eye Award,” Cumberbatch said in a statement. “This festival is important in recognising, encouraging and supporting all filmmakers across the world, with emphasis on inspiring new talent and voices, something close to my heart. I am delighted to be accepting this special award.”
Cumberbatch is the rare performer who has excelled on stage, in TV and film, with both broadly commercial and highly artistic work. He’s played Sherlock Holmes in the BBC’s megahit Sherlock and Doctor Strange in the Marvel Cinema Universe, voiced the dragon Smaug in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy, and played Khan in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek into Darkness (2013), while also earning best actor Oscar noms for his starring roles in Morten Tyldum The Imitation Game (2014) and Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog (2021), acclaim for supporting turns in Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave (2013), Joe Wright’s Atonement (2007) and, most recently, proving he also has well-developed comic muscles, in Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme.
In Dylan Southern’s The Thing With Feathers, which premiered at Sundance, Cumberbatch both starred and produced, through his company SunnyMarch. His next feature will be The Roses, starring alongside Olivia Colman in Jay Roach’s modern-day, British reboot of 1989 black comedy classic The War of the Roses.