The Zurich Film Festival will honor Oscar winner Martin McDonagh with its A Tribute To … Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to cinema at its 22nd edition in September.
McDonagh will accept the award in person during a gala premiere of his upcoming black comedy Wild Horse Nine, starring John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits, and Parker Posey, following its world premiere in Venice.
“Martin McDonagh is one of the most exciting auteur filmmakers of his generation. He is a master of dark comedy and character writing… His wonderfully curious characters never fail to draw us in, and he has a remarkable gift for manoeuvring them into absurd predicaments through screenplays of exceptional wit and precision,” said Christian Jungen, CEO of the Zurich Film Festival.
“McDonagh’s talent for eliciting complex and nuanced performances from his actors is a defining hallmark of his distinctive style. Wild Horse Nine is no exception and, in our view, one of the standout films of the season. We have had the privilege of screening several of Martin McDonagh’s earlier masterpieces, and we are delighted to honor his outstanding contribution to the art of cinema.”
Watch on Deadline
Set shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup, Wild Horse Nine stars Malkovich and Rockwell as CIA agents Chris and Lee who set out to Easter Island from Santiago, where they are stationed alongside their boss and bureau chief, MJ (Buscemi). Amongst the Island’s iconic statues, as the longtime partners wrestle with their dark pasts and present conspiracies, Chris’s newfound bond with a pair of rebellious students, played by Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas, threatens to send everyone’s trip to this remote paradise sideways.
London-born filmmaker and playwright McDonagh gained attention behind the camera with his Academy Award–winning short Six Shooter, before going on to direct and write critically acclaimed features In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and The Banshees of Inisherin.
Past recipients of Zurich’s A Tribute To … Award include Noah Baumbach, Edward Berger, Paolo Sorrentino, Wim Wenders, Olivier Assayas, Claire Denis, Michael Haneke, Oliver Stone, Maïwenn and Luca Guadagnino.
The 22nd Zurich Film Festival runs from September 24 to October 4.
