Naomi Watts to Receive Zurich Film Festival’s Golden Eye Award for ‘The Housewife’
Developing story first seen 2 hours ago
Zurich Film Festival is to honour actress Naomi Watts with its Golden Eye Award for her performance in Ben Shirinian's "The Housewife." The award recognises her turn as the enigmatic wife of a suspected Nazi, in a role festival CEO Christian Jungen likened to the kind of character work Alfred Hitchcock would have admired. Watts, a two-time Academy Award nominee, will personally accept the honour and present the film at the festival.
Watts will collect the award on 26 September and take part in a ZFF Masters session discussing her career. In "The Housewife," set in 1960s New York, she plays an elegant, inscrutable woman whose composed exterior unravels as a young New York Times journalist investigates her husband's hidden past. Watts said she was honoured to receive the award and looked forward to attending among "such great company."
- Naomi Watts to receive Zurich Film Festival's Golden Eye Award
- Honoured for role as a Nazi suspect's wife in "The Housewife"
- She'll accept the award and give a career talk on 26 September
New here? Start with this
Zurich Film Festival, one of Europe's mid-tier autumn festivals held in Switzerland every September, has long used its Golden Eye Award to celebrate actors for a body of work or a standout performance, with past winners drawn from across Hollywood and international cinema. This year's recipient is Naomi Watts, a British-Australian actress known for films such as Mulholland Drive and The Impossible, who has been nominated for two Academy Awards during her career.
The award ties to Watts's role in "The Housewife," a film directed by Ben Shirinian set in 1960s New York, in which she plays the composed but mysterious wife of a man suspected of being a former Nazi. As part of the honour, Watts will attend the festival in person to accept the award, present the film to audiences, and take part in an on-stage discussion about her career.
Recognitions like the Golden Eye Award matter to the film industry because they raise a festival's profile, draw press attention to smaller or upcoming releases, and give audiences and distributors an early look at films that may later feature in wider award-season conversations.
More coverage