French Director Pierre Le Gall’s ‘Flesh and Fuel’ Wins Top Prize at Zurich Film Festival
The Cannes Critics’ Week premiere took the Golden Eye in the narrative competition, while Pete Muller’s ‘Bucks Harbor’ won the documentary prize.
French filmmaker Pierre Le Gall has won the top narrative prize at the 22nd Zurich Film Festival with “Flesh and Fuel,” his feature debut about an unexpected romance between two long-distance truck drivers.
The film, which had its world premiere in Cannes’ Critics’ Week, received the Golden Eye for Best Film on Saturday. The festival’s competition is reserved for filmmakers directing their first, second or third feature.
Le Gall’s film follows Étienne, a French truck driver whose isolated routine changes after he meets Bartosz, a lively Polish driver. What begins as a brief encounter develops into a relationship that crosses both personal and national boundaries.
A love story built around isolation and connection
Starring Alexis Manenti, the César-winning actor from “Les Misérables,” “Flesh and Fuel” uses the lives of its truck-driving protagonists to explore loneliness, intimacy and the barriers people create around themselves.
The narrative jury praised the film for addressing the human need for connection at a time when isolation can feel like protection.
“At a time when isolation has become a means of protecting ourselves from the world and from one another, ‘Flesh and Fuel’ offers a compelling and deeply cinematic reflection on the fundamental human need for connection,” the jury said.
The jury also highlighted Le Gall’s sensitivity in portraying the characters’ emotional journey, particularly the way love forces them to confront the physical and emotional boundaries surrounding their lives.
The narrative jury included directors Cary Joji Fukunaga and Fernando Eimbcke, actress Ella Rumpf, producer Julie Billy, and Walter Fasano, who works as a director, editor and screenwriter.
Mads Mengel’s “The Guest” and Zou Jing’s “A Girl Unknown” received special mentions.
‘Bucks Harbor’ takes the documentary Golden Eye
The documentary competition’s top prize went to Pete Muller’s “Bucks Harbor,” which previously premiered in the Panorama section at the Berlin Film Festival and won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury there.
Set in Downeast Maine, the film focuses on a U.S. fishing village where generations of young men are shaped by harsh winters, strict parental expectations and a changing economic environment.
The festival describes the film as a look into the inner lives of the community’s residents, with climate change and the loss of traditional livelihoods forming part of its wider context.
The documentary jury praised Muller’s approach to masculinity and rural life, describing the film as an intimate portrait of a disadvantaged community dealing with environmental and economic pressures.
The jury said the film offers an empathetic alternative to the stereotypical portrayals that can emerge during periods of political and social polarization.
The documentary jury consisted of director and anthropologist Sine Plambech, cinematographer Alfredo de Juan, producer Anne Köhncke, director Jela Hasler and filmmaker Nikolas Geyrhalter.
“One in a Million,” by Itab Azzam and Jack Macinnes, and “My Home of Wind and Sand,” by Patrick Wally, received special mentions.
Zurich celebrates emerging filmmakers alongside established names
Other awards at the festival included the Audience Award for Andrina Mračnikar’s “Mila/Marija”, while Heinz Bütler’s “Ebjä! Adolf Wölfli” received the Critics Jury Award.
Elisabeth Rasmussen’s “We Are Stardust” won the Science Award.
Festival director Reta Guetg said the winning films demonstrated the “courage and originality” of filmmakers presenting their early works.
The festival also brought emerging filmmakers into the same program as established directors including Danny Boyle, Richard Linklater, Martin McDonagh, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Jesse Eisenberg and Anton Corbijn.
“It is precisely these encounters between generations that define our festival,” Guetg said.
Honorary awards were also presented during the festival to Julianne Moore, Tom Hiddleston, Naomi Watts and John Turturro, among other film figures.
For Le Gall, however, the Zurich victory gives “Flesh and Fuel” an important early milestone after its Cannes debut, putting the filmmaker and his first feature firmly on the international festival circuit.
