‘No Time to Die’ to Make First Festival Debut at Zurich

Leo Barraclough
·3 min read

The 17th Zurich Film Festival will host the Swiss premiere of “No Time to Die,” the 25th James Bond film, on Sept. 28. It’s the first time a Bond movie has been in the official selection of a festival, its artistic director, Christian Jungen, said. The festival will also stage a retrospective of the other Bond movies starring Daniel Craig.

“We are extremely pleased to be one of the first in the world to show our audience the most recent Bond adventure,” Jungen said. “We fought for months to get this premiere and had to negotiate every last detail with the distribution company Universal. Never before has James Bond been in the official selection of a film festival. I am further pleased that the ZFF has succeeded in this coup as it sends out a powerful signal that highlights the importance of cinema. The industry has waited more eagerly for this movie than any other.”

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“Year after year, the ZFF brings the glamour of Hollywood to Zurich and is a feast for all film lovers,” Emin Soysaler, managing director of Universal Pictures International’s Swiss operation, said. “In hardly any other country does the James Bond series stand for great cinema more than in this country, and traditionally Switzerland is thus one of the most important markets worldwide for the 007 adventures. Due to the pandemic, the theatrical release had to be postponed and now we are even more pleased to be able to present ‘No Time to Die’ to the Swiss audience at this year’s Zurich Film Festival. The wait has been worth it: Bond is back!”

The movie’s world premiere will take place on Sept. 28 at London’s Royal Albert Hall. It will release in the U.K. and Ireland from Sept. 30 through Universal Pictures International, and in the U.S on Oct. 8 through MGM via its United Artists Releasing banner.

In “No Time to Die,” Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.

Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, the film stars Craig, Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz and Ralph Fiennes. The producers are Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.

The festival, which runs Sept. 23 to Oct. 3, opens with Taliban hostage drama “And Tomorrow We Will Be Dead,” by Swiss filmmaker Michael Steiner, and closes with Wes Anderson’s homage to journalism “The French Dispatch.”

Its gala sceenings include the world premieres of Florian Gallenberger’s relationship comedy “It’s Just a Phase, Honey,” and Andreas Schmied’s skiing champion biopic “Chasing the Line.” Also playing are Yvan Attal’s “Les Choses Humaines,” Ari Folman’s “Where Is Anne Frank,” Asghar Farhadi’s “A Hero,” Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World,” and Todd Haynes’ “The Velvet Underground.”

The festival plans tributes for U.S. actress Sharon Stone, Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, accompanied by a screening of “The Hand of God,” and film composer Mychael Danna.

The complete program will be published on Sept. 9.

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