Zurich Summit

At the 19th Zurich Film Festival, Fred Kogel of Leonine Studios was honoured with the Game Changer Award. Before ceremoniously accepting the award, he talked intimately about his successful career during the Game Changer Conversation at the Zurich Summit Conference.

"I am delighted to be honoured with the prestigious Game Changer Award. To have our achievements recognised by such an illustrious festival is a privilege. I share this award with all the employees at LEONINE who have worked with great fervour and drive to bring our vision to life. The award is not only confirmation of our passion for storytelling and our energy, but is also an incentive for us to continue to push the boundaries and shape the industry," is how Fred Kogel expressed his appreciation of the award.

Fred Kogel was renowned for his extraordinary knowledge of the media industry. In addition to his outstanding expertise in the cinema sector, he also enjoyed many years of success as a producer in the field of entertainment, counting shows like "Wetten, dass…?" and the "Harald Schmidt Show" among his list of credits. After serving as Head of Entertainment at ZDF and Managing Director of SAT1, where he was responsible for the station's merger into ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, he gradually turned his attention to cinema, becoming CEO of Constantin Film AG from 2003 to 2009. While he served on the board, highly acclaimed, Oscar-nominated theatrical hits like DOWNFALL and PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER were released, which, in addition to countless other accolades, won both the German and European Film Awards and a Bambi, as well as THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX, which also received an Oscar nomination.

Four years ago, Fred Kogel founded LEONINE Studios together with the financial investor KKR as a major player in the German production, distribution, and licensing sector. These three business units covered the entire value chain of the moving image market. LEONINE Studios included successful subsidiaries such as Wiedemann & Berg Film, Odeon Fiction, the award-winning Berlin-based production company hyperbole Medien GMBH, and the documentary specialists gebrueder beetz filmproduktion. LEONINE Studios’ production company W&B Television produced the Wolfgang Hohlbein adaptation of THE GRYPHON for Amazon Prime Video, the series 4 BLOCKS and GERMAN GENIUS for Warner TV, the Netflix Original Series DARK, and the international Paramount+ bestseller adaptation THE BILLION DOLLAR CODE.

In 2022, Michael Barker and Tom Bernard, Co-Founders and Co-Presidents of Sony Pictures Classics, were honoured with the award as part of the 18th Zurich Film Festival.

“In addition to helping the successful launch of many important movies, the Zurich Film Festival has always been a great place to meet, engage, and exchange ideas with filmmakers, distributors, and exhibitors. This award put the focus on 30 years of Sony Pictures Classics movies and the talented filmmakers who made them. In our opinion, they were the real game changers and we shared this award with them. Thank you, Zurich Film Festival, for the honor,” said Michael Barker and Tom Bernard of Sony Pictures Classics.

Barker and Bernard's Sony Pictures Classics aimed to distribute thought-provoking, high-quality feature films and documentaries and promote the signature style of talented filmmakers. The Zurich Film Festival honoured the two American studio bosses that year for their services to the film culture. The two had founded Sony Pictures Classics exactly 30 years prior and had popularised auteur filmmakers such as Asghar Farhadi, Wim Wenders, and Pedro Almodóvar. They had won more than 40 Academy Awards and championed diversity in cinema long before the topic became fashionable.

Pamela Abdy, MGM’s Motion Picture Group President was honoured with the Game Changer Award during the Zurich Summit industry conference at the 17th Zurich Film Festival.

"I am honored to be given this award by the Zurich Film Festival, and want to extend my deep appreciation to Christian, Reta and their entire organization. I consider it a genuine privilege to stand alongside the legendary filmmakers who have been a part of the MGM family for the last century, and I am grateful to welcome so many incredible storytellers – both new and established – to join us as we endeavor to make great films at MGM in the years ahead." affirmed Pamela Abdy, MGM's Motion Picture Group President.

Prior to Abdy’s role at MGM she has championed original ideas and authorship, working with great filmmakers including QUEEN & SLIM director Melina Matsoukas and writer Lena Waithe, A MILLION LITTLE PIECES director Sam Taylor-Johnson. Furthermore, she has worked with Academy Award-winning director Alejandro González Iñárritu on BABEL, BIRDMAN, and THE REVENANT. She was also responsible for Adam McKay’s Academy Award-winning THE BIG SHORT and Martin Scorsese’s SHUTTER ISLAND – while serving at Paramount Pictures, Bluegrass Films, New Regency and Makeready.

The Zurich Summit welcomed MGM's Pamela Abdy and Michael de Luca for a conversation with CAA Media Finance co-head Roeg Sutherland to discuss how they have weathered the pandemic, the changing role of the studios in the current landscape, and what they see as the future of MGM, driven by their ongoing commitment to the theatrical experience.

The Gamechanger Award was presented to the distributor Ascot Elite Entertainment at the 6th Zurich Summit. The trophy was accepted by the three co-CEOs Ralph Dietrich, Karin Dietrich and Stephan Giger.

The Gamechanger Award, which has been re-established, goes to personalities who give new impetus to the film industry with their commitment. With this award, the Zurich Film Festival recognizes two great achievements of Ascot Elite: On the one hand, the company has rendered outstanding services to the ZFF by bringing films and filmmakers to the ZFF for years, providing the opening film a total of eight times.

On the other hand, Ascot Elite has repeatedly championed Swiss films. In recent years, they have successfully brought films such as PLATZSPITZBABY by Pierre Monnard, BRUNO MANSER by Niklaus Hilber, ZWINGLI by Stefan Haupt, DER GOALI BIN IG by Sabine Boss or DER VERDINGBUB by Markus Imboden to the cinema and have done brilliant media work, especially again with EDEN FÜR JEDEN by Rolf Lyssy. Ascot has helped Swiss film reach a large audience again. But they have also been involved in smaller productions such as DER UNSCHULDIGE by Simon Jaquemet. Despite all the adversities of the current market situation, Ascot Elite is strongly and wholeheartedly committed to cinema. For this we say thank you with this award!

Patrick Wachsberger, one of the most influential and respected executives in the independent film business, has been honored in 2016 with Game Changer Award at the Zurich International Film Festival.

As co-chairman of Lionsgate's Motion Picture Group, along with Rob Friedman, Wachsberger helped bring to life the global teen franchises THE HUNGER GAMES and DIVERGENT. The two men have also expanded Lionsgate's film business with projects such as Pantelion Films, aimed at Hispanic audiences, and Codeblack Pictures, aimed at African-American moviegoers.

Lionsgate underwent another major strategic shift following its $4.4 billion acquisition of premium TV provider Starz.

The latest film from Lionsgate in the fall of 2016, the disaster drama DEEPWATER HORIZON directed by Peter Berg and starring Mark Wahlberg, was presented on September 28 in Zurich as part of a gala.