Filmmaker Richard Linklater will be honored at the Zurich Film Festival with the Golden Eye, Career Achievement Award for his life’s work, including the Before trilogy and Boyhood.
The festival will also present a retrospective of his work in collaboration with the Filmpodium Zürich and the Cinémathèque suisse, and he will also offer insights into his work during a public ZFF Masters.
“Richard Linklater is one of the most visionary and formative directors of American independent cinema,” commented Christian Jungen, CEO of the ZFF. “Through naturalistic dialogue and scenes that feel plucked straight from life, he holds up a mirror to our times and regularly brings out the very best in his actors. He is also the director of my absolute favourite film, Before Sunrise, thanks to which I met my wife. I am therefore especially delighted to welcome him to Zurich and to share with our audiences the films that have moved me for so many years.”
Richard Linklater said, “I am truly honored to receive the Career Achievement Award from the Zurich Film Festival. When Christian and I met at the Golden Globes, I mentioned I’ve always wanted to attend one day, and now seemed like the right time. I’m delighted that this award is the occasion that brings me there, and I very much look forward to celebrating with the European audience that has meant so much to me throughout my career.”
Filmmaker Richard Linklater is a five-time Academy Award nominee, two-time Golden Globe winner, and two-time BAFTA winner who has directed twenty-six feature-length films. Recent credits include his two 2026 Golden Globe Best Picture nominees, Nouvelle Vague and Blue Moon, as well as Hitman (2024) and “Hometown Prison” (2024), his documentary from the HBO series God Save Texas (2024). In addition to the Golden Globe Best Picture nomination, Nouvelle Vague received ten Cesar Award nominations and went on to win four, including Best Director for Linklater, making him the first American to win the award.
Linklater’s debut feature Slacker screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 1991, marking his long relationship with the festival as an independent filmmaker. He followed up with his 1993 coming-of-age comedy Dazed and Confused, starring Matthew McConaughey in his iconic breakout role. Other work includes the Before trilogy (1995, 2004 & 2013), starring frequent collaborator Ethan Hawke; School of Rock (2003); Me and Orson Welles (2009), Bernie (2011), Boyhood, which won the BAFTA and Golden Globe for Best Picture in 2014, Everybody Wants Some!! (2016), and Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood (2022).
Linklater serves as the Artistic Director for the Austin Film Society, which he founded in 1985 to showcase films from around the world that were not typically shown in Austin.
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