Reinaldo Marcus Green and Matthew Heineman to preside the juries of 21st ZFF
Jurypresident Reinaldo Marcus Green (left) and Matthew Heineman (right)
Fourteen carefully selected first, second or third films by directors will once again compete for the Golden Eye in the feature and documentary film competitions at this year's Zurich Film Festival. This year's juries, chaired by Reinaldo Marcus Green for the feature film competition and Matthew Heineman for the documentary film competition, will decide the winners.
The feature film jury is chaired by American director and producer Reinaldo Marcus Green (KING RICHARD). Alongside German actress Leonie Benesch (HELDIN), Italian producer Carlo Cresto-Dina (LA CHIMERA), Iranian director Ali Asgari (DIVINE COMEDY) and Swiss film curator Nicole Reinhardt, he will select the winners of the awards from among the 14 feature films in competition.
The documentary film competition will be chaired by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Matthew Heineman (AMERICAN SYMPHONY). Joining him will be award-winning American producer Odessa Rae (THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB), Emmy Award-winning director David Osit (PREDATORS), Danish producer Helle Faber (MR. NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN) and Swiss editor Katharina Bhend (WIR ERBEN). Together, they will select the winner of the Golden Eye in the documentary film category.
President: Reinaldo Marcus Green
Reinaldo Marcus Green is an acclaimed writer, director, and producer whose work bridges intimate storytelling and global appeal. Green made his feature debut with MONSTERS AND MEN (2018), winner of the Special Jury Prize at Sundance and has since then presented his films at Cannes, the Sundance or the TIFF. His film KING RICHARD (2021) won an Academy Award in the category «Best Actor» for Will Smith and earned five further nominations, including «Best Picture». His most recent film, BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE (2024), became a worldwide box office success. Green recently completed production on MARVEL’S THE PUNISHER slated for release in 2026 and is currently developing a Tiger Woods biopic based on Kevin Cook’s book with Irwin Winkler and Higher Ground Productions.
Leonie Benesch
German actress Leonie Benesch caused a sensation with her very first appearance in the award-winning film DAS WEISSE BAND (2009) and won several young talent awards for her performance. Since then, she has appeared in the Oscar-nominated film DAS LEHRERZIMMER (2023), for which she won the German Film Award for Best Actress, and SEPTEMBER 5 (2024), for which she was honored as Best Supporting Actress. In HELDIN (2025) by Petra Volpe, Benesch most recently played an overworked nurse. The drama is Switzerland's entry for the upcoming Academy Awards in the Best International Film category. In addition to cinema, Leonie Benesch is also known for her roles in the series BABYLON BERLIN (2016 – 2023) and THE CROWN (2016 – 2023).
Carlo Cresto-Dina
Carlo Cresto-Dina is an Italian producer based in London. He began his career producing feature-length documentaries for European broadcasters including Arte and the BBC, before founding his own company, tempesta, with which he produced all of Alice Rohrwacher’s short films and features, such as LAZZARO FELICE (2018), LA CHIMERA (2023) and LE PUPILLE (2023). He also produced all of Leonardo Di Constanzo’s features, such as THE INTERVAL (2012), THE INNER CAGE (2021) and ELISA (2025), as well as a string of films by young European authers awarded at the most important international film festivals. A recent example is GLORIA! (2024), the debut film by Margherita Vicario, which premiered at Berlinale 2024.
Ali Asgari
Born in Tehran, Iran, Ali Asgari is a writer, director, producer and a prominent Iranian cinema figure with many international awards to his name. His shorts and feature films have been screened and awarded at major festivals. His shorts More Than Two Hours (2013) and The Silence (2016) were nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes, while The Baby (2014) competed at Venice. His debut feature Disappearance (2017) premiered in Venice Film Festival and Toronto. Until Tomorrow (2022) screened at Berlinale, followed by Terrestrial Verses (Cannes de Cannes 2023) and reached over 100,000 viewers in France. His latest works include Higher than Acidic Clouds (IDFA 2024) and Divine Comedy (Venice 2025).
Nicole Reinhard
Swiss film curator and cinema operator Nicole Reinhard developed a passion for film and cinema at an early age and earned a degree in film studies at the University of Zurich. Reinhard helped establish the Winterthur Short Film Festival and later served as director of the Stadtkino Basel for 17 years. At the same time, she founded the Bildrausch Film Festival there, which she significantly shaped as co-director. Since 2021, she has been managing the Filmpodium Zurich, where she is bringing audiences back to the cinema with innovative and surprising programs, specials, and educational information. Her commitment to auteur cinema has been honored with several awards, including the Order of Merit from the French Ministry of Culture.
President: Matthew Heineman
Matthew Heineman is an Academy Award-nominated, 9-time Emmy Award-winning, 2-time DGA Award winning, and Grammy Award winning filmmaker whose documentaries include CARTEL LAND (2015), THE FIRST WAVE (2021) and AMERICAN SYMPHONY (2023). In 2019, he received a nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First Time Feature Film Director from the DGA for A PRIVATE WAR (2018) – making Heineman and Martin Scorsese the only filmmakers ever nominated for both narrative and documentary DGA Awards. Heineman recently directed Jessica Chastain in the Apple TV series THE SAVANT, which will be released in the Fall of 2025.
Odessa Rae
Odessa Rae is a multi-award-winning American film producer. She gained wider recognition for producing the documentary NAVALNY (2022), which won an Academy Award and a British Academy Film Award in the Best Documentary category, among others. Her films have been screened at international festivals, most recently HOLLYWOODGATE (2023) at the Venice Film Festival and IT DOESN’T MATTER (2024) at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2023, Rae received the UN Sustainable Goals Impact Through Film Award. She started her career as an actress, appearing alongside Brad Pitt, and speaks several languages, including fluent Japanese.
David Osit
David Osit is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning film director, editor, and composer. He is the director of PREDATORS (2025) which premiered at Sundance Film Festival and will be distributed worldwide in Fall 2025 by MTV Documentary Films and Paramount. His film MAYOR (2020), which follows the mayor of Ramallah, won an Emmy Award in the «Outstanding Political & Government Documentary» category and a Peabody Award. The film was shown in over 80 US cinemas and was a New York Times Critic's Pick. With THANK YOU FOR PLAYING (2015) he won an Emmy for «Outstanding Arts & Culture Documentary». Osit studied in the US and Egypt and now lives in New York.
Katharina Bhend
Katharina Bhend is an editor with almost 20 years' experience, specialising in documentaries for cinema, festivals and television. She has received numerous awards for her work and has been featured at several international festivals. She was nominated for the Swiss Film Award in the Best Editing category for DAS MÄDCHEN UND DIE SPINNE (2021). Her latest documentary film, WIR ERBEN (2024), received the Swiss Film Award 2025 and she was honoured with the Grand Prix Semaine de la Critique Locarno. Her other awards include the Prix du Public at the Solothurn Film Festival and several Bern Film Awards. She also teaches at HSLU Lucerne and mentors filmmakers. In 2024, she was a member of the jury for the Bern Film Award.
Helle Faber
Helle Faber is a Danish film producer with a background in journalism. For more than 20 years she has been renowned for her documentaries, which have been screened and awarded at international festivals, including Mr. NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN (2025), which won the Special Jury Prize in the World Cinema Documentary Competition category at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Her other films include THEATRE OF VIOLENCE (2023), THE CHOCOLATE WAR (2022), MOTLEY'S LAW (2015), WARRIORS FROM THE NORTH (2014), PUTIN'S KISS (2011) and ENEMIES OF HAPPINESS (2006). Faber is the head of the production company made in copenhagen, which she founded in 2010.
