Swiss Film Award 2026: These are the winning films
At the 2026 Swiss Film Awards ceremony in Zurich, «Heldin» by Petra Volpe was named Best Feature Film and «I Love You, I Leave You» by Moris Freiburghaus was named Best Documentary. Federal Councilor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider presented Villi Hermann with the Honorary Award for his lifetime achievement.
The Swiss Film Awards 2026 were presented yesterday evening in Zurich. The Swiss Film Academy honored the feature film "Heldin" by Petra Volpe and the documentary "I Love You, I Leave You" by Moris Freiburghaus in the two main categories. Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, Head of the Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA, attended the award ceremony.
"Heroine" wins several awards
"Heldin" by Petra Volpe (Zodiac Pictures, Lukas Hobi, Reto Schaerli) was awarded Best Feature Film 2026. The film won a total of four prizes: Petra Volpe received the prize for best screenplay, while Jacques Kieffer, Gina Keller and Marco Teufen were honored for best sound. In addition, the first-ever "Box Office Quartz" for the biggest box office success with 206,810 admissions went to "Heldin" (distributed by Filmcoopi Zurich). This award is presented by the Swiss Film Academy and the Federal Office of Culture and is not associated with any prize money.
Documentary film and other awards
Moris Freiburghaus won the Quartz trophy for best documentary film for "I Love You, I Leave You" (Sabotage Filmkollektiv, Leon Schwitter, Fabiana Seitz). The film also received the prize for best film music, which went to Dino Brandão.
The feature film "Bagger Drama" by Piet Baumgartner was awarded two prizes: Phil Hayes received the Quartz for best actor, Bettina Stucky that for best actress. Sven Schelker was honored as best supporting actor for his interpretation of Anatol in "Stiller" by Stefan Haupt.
Two prizes went to the feature film "À bras-le-corps": Benoit Dervaux was awarded for best cinematography, Karine Sudan for best editing.
Other categories and honors
"Yonne" by Julietta Korbel and Yan Ciszewski (Rita Productions, Marine Dumas) received the award in the "Best Short Film" category. "Ich bin nicht sicher" by Luisa Zürcher was awarded in the category "Best Animated Film". Qui part à la chasse" by Lea Favre (École cantonale d'art de Lausanne) was recognized as the best graduation film.
This year, the Academy's special prize went to Damien Hauser for his creative use of artificial intelligence in the feature film "Memory of Princess Mumbi". The Ticino director, screenwriter and producer Villi Hermann was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award. The laudatory speech was held by Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider.
Election procedure and organization
The nominees and winners are chosen by the 500 or so paying members of the Swiss Film Academy in an anonymous voting process. Prize money is awarded for the nominations; no additional money is awarded for winning the Film Prize.
The award for local filmmaking is organized by the Federal Office of Culture with its partners SRG SSR and Association "Quartz" Genève Zürich and in collaboration with Swiss Films, the Swiss Film Academy and the Solothurn Film Festival.
