Editor's blog

Adding more excitement to the opening night of the 8th Zurich Film Festival, it was announced today that two time Academy Award® nominee John Travolta, will be honoured with the prestigious ‘Golden Eye’ award for his achievements in cinema before the gala screening of Oliver Stone’s “Savages” on Thursday, September 20th.

Travolta stars in the ZFF opening night film “Savages” alongside an ensemble cast that includes Taylor Kitsch (“Battleship”), Blake Lively (“The Town”), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (“Kick-Ass”), Academy Award® nominee John Travolta (“Pulp Fiction”), Academy Award® winner Benicio Del Toro (“Traffic”), Academy Award® nominee Salma Hayek (“Frida”), Emile Hirsch (“Into the Wild”) and Academy Award® nominee Demián Bichir (“A Better Life”).

“We’re excited to welcome John Travolta to Zurich to bestow him with this honor and celebrate his amazing career,” said ZFF Director Karl Spoerri. “We’re gearing up for a momentous opening night.”

Travolta has been honored twice with Academy Award® nominations, including one for his riveting portrayal of a philosophical hit man in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. He also received BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for this highly acclaimed role and was named Best Actor by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, among other distinguished awards.

Travolta garnered further praise as a mafioso-turned-movie producer in the comedy sensation Get Shorty, winning a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture—Comedy or Musical. In 1998, Travolta was honored by BAFTA/LA with the Britannia Award for Excellence in Film and, that same year, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Chicago International Film Festival. Travolta also won the prestigious Alan J. Pakula Award from the Broadcast Film Critics Association for his performance in A Civil Action, based on the best-selling book by Jonathan Harr and directed by Steven Zaillian

He was nominated again for a Golden Globe for his performance in Primary Colors, directed by Mike Nichols and co-starring Emma Thompson and Billy Bob Thornton, and in 2008, he received his sixth Golden Globe nomination for his role as Edna Turnblad in the big-screen, box-office hit Hairspray. As a result of this performance, the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Santa Barbara International Film Festival recognized Travolta with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Travolta previously starred in a number of monumental films, earning his first Oscar® and Golden Globe nominations for his role in the blockbuster Saturday Night Fever, which launched the disco phenomenon in the 1970s. He went on to star in the big-screen version of the long-running musical Grease and the wildly successful Urban Cowboy, which also influenced trends in popular culture. His additional film credits include the Brian De Palma thrillers Carrie and Blow Out, as well as Amy Heckerling’s hit comedy Look Who’s Talking and Nora Ephron’s comic hit Michael. Travolta starred in Phenomenon and took an equally distinctive turn as an action star in John Woo’s top-grossing Broken Arrow. He also starred in the classic Face/Off, opposite Nicolas Cage, and The General’s Daughter, co-starring Madeleine Stowe.

In 2005, Travolta reprised the role of ultra-cool Chili Palmer in the Get Shorty sequel, Be Cool. In addition, he starred opposite Scarlett Johansson in the critically acclaimed independent feature film A Love Song for Bobby Long, which was screened at the Venice International Film Festival and where both Travolta and the film won rave reviews. In February 2011, he was honored with the prestigious Golden Camera Award for Best Actor International in Berlin, Germany by Hörzu, Germany’s leading weekly television program magazine.

His other recent feature film credits include the hit box-office comedy Wild Hogs; the action-thriller Ladder 49; the movie version of the successful comic book “The Punisher”; the drama Basic; the psychological thriller Domestic Disturbance; the hit action picture Swordfish; the successful sci-fi movie Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000, based on the best-selling novel by L. Ron Hubbard; and Lonely Hearts. Travolta also starred opposite Denzel Washington in director Tony Scott’s remake of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, and he provided the voice of the lead character in Walt Disney Pictures’ animated hit Bolt.

Travolta starred in Walt Disney Pictures’ 2009 film Old Dogs, along with Robin Williams, Kelly Preston and Ella Bleu Travolta, followed by the 2010 action-thriller From Paris With Love, starring opposite Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

Travolta recently completed filming the action movie Killing Season on location in Georgia, co-starring Robert DeNiro and directed by Mark Steven Johnson.

More information about the 8th Zurich Film Festival can be found at: www.zff.com<http://www.zff.com>

About the Zurich Film Festival

Entering its eighth year, the Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) has established itself as one of the world’s top Films Festivals, discovering and promoting independent voices and talent from around the world, showcasing a diverse array of international films and serving as the setting for many World and European premieres.

The aim of the Zurich Film Festival is to offer audiences an insight into the work of young, upcoming filmmakers from around the globe and to promote the exchange of ideas between established film workers, young talent and the public.

ZFF is organized by Spoundation Motion Picture GmbH, based in Zurich, in cooperation with local institutions and sponsors. The Zurich Film Festival cooperates with numerous distributors and producers from Switzerland and abroad. The idea to found a festival in Zurich came from Karl Spoerri and Nadja Schildknecht, who serve as Directors of the Festival.

The Zurich Film Festival is generously supported by its main sponsors: Credit Suisse, upc cablecom, Die Schweizerische Post and Audi.