The 18th Zurich Film Festival (Sept. 22-Oct. 2) will present its Golden Icon Award to the British actor Ben Kingsley on Sept. 29. Kingsley will present the European premiere of his latest movie “Dalíland,” in which he portrays the Spanish painter Salvador Dalí. In addition, Kingsley will speak about his career in a ZFF Masters.
Kingsley has played several iconographic roles in film history: He was the title character in “Gandhi,” Oskar Schindler’s bookkeeper, and has worked with such leading director as Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott and Isabel Coixet.
“Sir Ben Kingsley is an outstanding and highly versatile character actor who is not only completely absorbed in his roles, but is also able to imbue his characters with a rare human depth,” Christian Jungen, ZFF artistic director, said.
“With his nuanced acting, Kingsley has the ability to present the inner life of his characters to the outside world and to embody complex, fractured characters in a convincing and haunting way. A number of Kingsley’s films, including ‘Gandhi’ and ‘Schindler’s List,’ are among the most significant milestones in film history, making him in turn one of the most famous actors in the world.”
The Golden Icon Award is awarded to personalities who have impacted on cinema through their achievements in acting, and have become an icon for an entire generation.
“I’m a storyteller, nothing more and nothing less. So I’m touched that Zurich should see fit to honor me for this, my simple, ancient craft,” Kingsley said.
On Sept. 29, he will also hold a ZFF masterclass and talk about his career.
In Mary Harron’s “Dalíland,” he embodies the eccentric Spanish painter Salvador Dalí who, together with his new assistant, is busy preparing an important show in New York in 1973, while his tempestuous marriage to wife Gala (Barbara Sukowa) is on the verge of collapse.
