Pierre Le Gall’s first feature film has arrived at the right festival at the right moment. His romantic drama Flesh and Fuel, which premiered in Cannes’ Critics’ Week, was named Best Film at the 22nd Zurich Film Festival on Saturday, winning the Golden Eye award.
Étienne is a French long-distance truck driver whose solitary days are disrupted when he meets Bartosz, a cheerful Polish truck driver. A chance meeting that begins as a casual encounter develops into a romance that spans national borders.
The Jury’s Words on the Truck Drivers
The film’s jury statement commends it for reflecting on human connection at a moment when isolation has come to serve as a way of shielding ourselves from the world and from one another. It calls the work a compelling and deeply cinematic exploration of our most essential need to connect with others.
“With exquisite sensitivity, the film explores how the desire to love and be loved demands that we confront and ultimately break through the physical and emotional boundaries we construct around ourselves.”
Directors Cary Joji Fukunaga and Fernando Eimbcke headed up the narrative film jury, with actress Ella Rumpf, producer Julie Billy and director, film editor and screenwriter Walter Fasano rounding out the group.
The Doc Prize Goes to Bucks Harbor
Pete Muller’s Bucks Harbor took home the Golden Eye for best documentary. The film made its debut at the Berlin Film Festival in the Panorama section, where it also claimed the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury.
The film’s setting is Downeast Maine, a fishing village in the U.S., and its focus is on the boys who grow up there, molded by the region’s severe winters and the strict rules their parents set. Bucks Harbor provides a look at the inner lives of these villagers.
The jury’s verdict described the film as a raw, in-depth portrait of fragile masculinity within an underprivileged community in rural North America, caught between climate change and the loss of livelihood. They observed that polarization tends to present people in stereotypical terms, but this film offers a much-needed counter narrative told with empathy.
“It provides a deeply human story at eye level with its protagonists, in an impressively convincing visual style.”
Sine Plambech, an anthropologist and director, sat on the documentary jury alongside Alfredo de Juan, a cinematographer. Anne Köhncke, a producer, joined the panel, along with Jela Hasler, a director. Nikolas Geyrhalter rounded out the group, serving as both a director and cinematographer and producer.
The Rest of the Prizes
The jury’s statement about courage and originality reflects the festival’s mission. The presence of established directors at the festival creates a conversation between generations. The awards deliver a diverse picture of contemporary cinema.
- Special mentions went to Mads Mengel’s The Guest and Zou Jing’s A Girl Unknown in the narrative category.
- In documentaries, special mentions went to One in a Million, by Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes, and My Home of Wind and Sand, by Patrick Wally.
- The Audience Award was won by Andrina Mračnikar’s Mila/Marija.
- The Critics Jury Award went to Heinz Bütler’s Ebjä! Adolf Wölfli.
- The Science Award was picked up by We Are Stardust by Elisabeth Rasmussen.
A Festival of First Films
Festival director Reta Guetg has noted that the winning films reveal just how much courage and originality there is among filmmakers who present one of their first works.
The director pointed to the presence at the festival of international directing heavyweights such as 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,” she said.
Honorary awards were handed out at the festival to a number of distinguished guests, including Julianne Moore, Tom Hiddleston, Naomi Watts, and John Turturro.
What This Means for Le Gall and Muller
Le Gall is making his feature film directorial debut here. Muller, by contrast, has already presented a documentary called Bucks Harbor at Berlin. Taking home the top prize at a major festival marks a significant milestone for any filmmaker early in their career.
The festival in Zurich concentrates on directors who are still early in their careers, which includes first, second or third directorial efforts.
The Awards Deliver a Diverse Picture
The special mentions across categories demonstrate the variety of work being honored, with Mengel’s The Guest and Zou’s A Girl Unknown placed beside Azzam and MacInnes’s One in a Million and Wally’s My Home of Wind and Sand.
The Audience Award winner, Mračnikar’s Mila/Marija, speaks to popular appeal. The Critics Jury Award, Bütler’s Ebjä! Adolf Wölfli, speaks to critical acclaim. The Science Award, Elisabeth Rasmussen’s We Are Stardust, speaks to a different kind of filmmaking altogether.
Why the films were chosen is explained by the jury’s own statements. The narrative jury described Flesh and Fuel as addressing isolation, while the documentary jury pointed to Bucks Harbor as a film that challenges stereotypes.
The Bottom Line
The festival has delivered on its promise to recognize emerging artists, honor new talent, and bring together filmmakers from different eras. The pairing of Flesh and Fuel and Bucks Harbor as top prizes shows that outstanding film can take many shapes.
The jury’s remarks make plain the festival’s priorities. One film centers on the human desire for connection. Another explores fragile masculinity in a shifting world. Combined, they demonstrate the range of stories being told.
Both films take their subjects from ordinary people: two truck drivers who find each other across borders, and a fishing village struggling with climate change. That both of these stories went on to win top prizes at the festival suggests that the organizers understand what connects them.
Source material: “Pierre Le Gall’s Passionate Love Story ‘Flesh and Fuel’ Named Best Film at Zurich Film Festival,” Variety.
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