Swiss Film Award Honorary award goes to Swiss filmmaker Villi Hermann
Director, screenwriter and producer Villi Hermann has been awarded this year's Honorary Swiss Film Award. According to the Federal Office of Culture, Hermann has had a significant influence on Swiss film for fifty years.
24.02.2026, 11:00
SDA
The award recognizes the work of an important filmmaker who has helped define the identity of Italian-language Swiss film, the Federal Office of Culture (FOC) announced on Tuesday. His filmmaking is characterized by courage, social commitment and artistic finesse.
Villi Hermann's career as a filmmaker began in the 1970s. His films were shown at international film festivals in Cannes, Venice and the Berlinale in the 1970s and 1980s. Hermann was awarded the Silver Leopard in Locarno for his first feature film "San Gottardo".
In 1981, he founded his own production company, "Imagofilm Lugano", which increasingly supports film productions by up-and-coming filmmakers from Ticino. Hermann thus made a decisive contribution to the emergence of a "new wave" of Italian-language film, writes the BAK.
The award ceremony for Hermann will take place on Friday in Zurich's Kongresshaus as part of the Swiss Film Awards ceremony.
