Zurich Film Festival 2025: Dwayne Johnson's 'The Smashing Machine', Nia DaCosta's 'Hedda', and other films to screen at event

Zurich [Switzerland], August 14 : The Zurich Film Festival has unveiled the list of movies which will have the global premiere at the event, which runs from September 25 to October 5, reported The Hollywood Reporter.

The 21st edition of the festival will open its main gala section to a mix of Hollywood awards contenders and German-language productions with broad audience appeal.

Festival director Christian Jungen noted that the section has a track record of screening films that later earn Oscar nominations, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

It includes Benny Safdie's latest feature, 'The Smashing Machine', starring Dwayne The Rock Johnson. The Rock plays the role of an MMA fighter, Mark Kerr.

According to the outlet, the film's synopsis reads: Kerr, an icon of the early UFC era, stands at the peak of his career while teetering on the edge of destruction, a life caught between fame and self-destruction. Former Playboy model and Kerr's wife, Dawn Staples, played by Emily Blunt, tries to support him through all the setbacks but finds herself pushed to her own limits.

Also screening is 'Hedda', the latest film from Nia DaCosta.

The film is described as a modern reimagining of Henrik Ibsen's classic play. Hedda (Tessa Thompson) finds herself torn between the lingering ache of a past love and the quiet suffocation of her present life. Over the course of one charged night, long-repressed desires and hidden tensions erupt - pulling her and everyone around her into a spiral of manipulation, passion, and betrayal.

Actors Nina Hoss, Imogen Poots and Tom Bateman also play prominent roles in the film.

Paul Greengrass's 'The Lost Bus' is also up for screening at the Zurich Film Festival, reported The Hollywood Reporter.

Inspired by real events, the movie casts Matthew McConaughey as a school bus driver caught in one of America's deadliest wildfires, with America Ferrera as a teacher aiding in the rescue of 22 children.

Other titles in the gala lineup include Rebecca Zlotowski's 'A Private Life' with Jodie Foster, Erik Schmitt's 'The Life of Wishes' starring Matthias Schweighofer, Swiss literary adaptation 'I'm Not Stiller' from director Stefan Haupt, Neele Leana Vollmar's 'Time We Lost' with Anke Engelke and Ulrich Tukur, 'Unidentified' from Haifaa Al Mansour, Christian Ditter's children's film 'Momo', and the documentary 'The Balloonists' from director John Dower, reported The Hollywood Reporter.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor