Bank Winterthur Short Film Festival loses ZKB as main sponsor
The Short Film Festival Winterthur is facing an uncertain future. Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) has dropped out as the main sponsor after 25 years. The festival team speaks of an "existential challenge".
20.10.2025, 12:11
SDA
The sponsorship portfolio is regularly reviewed. ZKB has decided to withdraw from this sponsorship partnership after 25 years, ZKB confirmed a corresponding report in the "Landbote" on Monday.
The Zurich state bank did not give more precise reasons. However, the Casino Theater Winterthur, the Swiss Youth Film Festival and the Pink Apple Film Festival will continue to receive money from ZKB.
ZKB decided to pull out back in 2024, and the Short Film Festival has been searching in vain for a new main sponsor ever since. However, this year's short film festival will take place as planned from November 4 to 9.
The 30th anniversary will be celebrated in 2026
The 2026 edition will also take place, as the organizers announced at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency. Solutions for the time after that are still being worked on. The end of the partnership with ZKB presents the Short Film Festival with an "existential challenge", it said in a statement.
The organizers are not disclosing how much money ZKB contributed as the main sponsor to the annual budget of around 1.5 million Swiss francs. In the 2024 annual report, sponsorship contributions totaling almost 330,000 francs were reported.
The public sector contributed a further 700,000 francs. The festival's own income amounted to just under 200,000 francs for the Short Film Festival and around 140,000 francs for the Short Film Night event series. Around 17,000 visitors were counted at the Short Film Festival 2024.
