Julianne Moore is heading to Zurich for one of the most prestigious honours of her career, with the 22nd Zurich Film Festival announcing that the acclaimed actress will receive its Golden Icon Award. The festival will take place from September 24 to October 4 in Zurich, Switzerland, with Moore attending both as an honorary recipient and as the star of The Debut, a new drama screening as part of the festival programme.
The Golden Icon Award is the Zurich Film Festival’s highest honour and recognises performers whose careers have made a lasting contribution to cinema. Previous recipients include Kate Winslet, Sylvester Stallone and Sharon Stone. Moore now joins that distinguished group following more than three decades of work marked by versatility, consistency and a willingness to take on challenging and unconventional roles.
Zurich Film Festival artistic director Christian Jungen praised Moore’s selection, calling her one of the most outstanding actresses in American cinema and highlighting her extraordinary versatility. He also noted her ability to create vivid characters who consistently draw audiences into their stories.
The festival recognition will coincide with the Zurich screening of Moore’s latest film, The Debut. Directed by Jesse Eisenberg, the film follows a former child star who returns to acting in her sixties after spending two decades away from the screen. Moore stars in the lead role, with Eisenberg also appearing in the film. The filmmaker previously wrote and directed A Real Pain, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
The Zurich screening will give European audiences an early opportunity to see The Debut ahead of its wider release. The film’s presence also makes Moore’s visit particularly significant, allowing the festival to celebrate her career while showcasing her latest work.
Moore’s film career spans more than three decades and includes collaborations with some of cinema’s most celebrated filmmakers, among them Robert Altman, Paul Thomas Anderson, Joel and Ethan Coen, and Todd Haynes. Her work has earned her multiple Academy Award nominations in both the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress categories.
She ultimately won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2015 for Still Alice, in which she portrayed a linguistics professor dealing with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. The performance became one of the defining achievements of her career and was widely recognised for its emotional precision and restraint.
Moore’s Golden Icon recognition also comes during an especially active period in her career. In 2026, she has appeared in Paul Feig’s The Housemaid’s Secret, the sequel to the global streaming success, and will now bring The Debut to Zurich.
The 22nd Zurich Film Festival will run for eleven days, featuring competition titles, special screenings and industry events alongside its major programme presentations. Moore’s dual role as an award recipient and star of a festival screening makes her one of the central figures of this year’s event.
The Golden Icon Award ceremony and the screening of The Debut will take place during the festival’s main programme, although their exact dates have yet to be announced.