IWC Gala 2017 at the Zurich Film Festival
Zurich Highlight
If you want to enjoy Zurich at its best, there is nothing like the Zurich Film Festival. The city lightens up and shows its warmth (yes, you read correctly!) and incredible organisational skills when Hollywood stars grace the city with their presence and films. IWC Schaffausen is one of the partners that, since the start of the festival, has organised the most glamorous events. Geri and I had the honour to attend the classic gala “For the Love of Cinema” for the second time. What an evening!
Glamour and A Prize
The celebrity-filled tables and long dresses were a delight. But there is always more to that, at this gala.
Several years ago, with the express aim of promoting up-and-coming filmmakers, IWC founded the IWC Filmmaker Award to promote the vision of storytellers of all genres whose work demonstrates that they have gone beyond mere filmmaking. This year the award, endowed with a CHF 100,000 prize, went to Niklaus Hilber’s feature film project PARADISE WAR. Thanks to this, the cast will be able to finish the movie , and therefore support Swiss environmentalist Bruno Manser’s campaign against forest destruction and political oppression of indigenous people in Sarawak, Malaysia.
James Marsden
James Marsden, IWC ambassador, Hollywood actor and hot man (sorry I underline this, but after spending an evening near him there’s no way I can forget his looks!) showed us his funny side while presenting the prize. He first mentioned that he’s planning to go on a bike ride with another IWC ambassador, Fabian Cancellara, but only after making sure his bike wheels are filled up with cement. Then he thanked the Pepe Lienhard orchestra (whose live music made the audience emotional and brought us all to a standing ovation) and said that his girlfriend cried when the Titanic music and images were shown. He cried at the Star Wars piece.
Our Impressions
Geri and I loved dressing up, wearing our Da Vinci watches, and meeting the Swiss personalities that attended the dinner. My personal opinion? I love when luxury and “serious” matters go together. A sponsor can choose to work in many different ways, but when the money is used for an interesting cause and the event is full of glamour, everybody wants to attend. Thank you IWC for making it once again, and for inviting us – we loved it and hope to attend again.