Zurich Summit lines up Basner, Berger and Kramer for 12th edition
Glen Basner, chief executive of FilmNation Entertainment, will close this year's Zurich Summit with an on-stage conversation and the event's Game Changer Award, according to Deadline. Filmmaker Edward Berger, the director of Conclave, will lead the session.
The 12th Zurich Summit runs from September 25 to 27 within the Zurich Film Festival. Its centrepiece is a one-day industry conference on Saturday at Zurich's Dolder Grand hotel, where producers, distributors, agents and festival leaders discuss how films get financed and sold.
The guest list is wide. It includes Bill Kramer, chief executive of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organisation behind the Oscars; Roeg Sutherland, co-head of CAA Media Finance, the agency unit that puts together film financing and sales; and Efe Cakarel, chief executive of the arthouse streamer Mubi.
Also confirmed are Rena Ronson, partner and head of UTA's Independent Film Group, which handles financing and sales for independent films, and Elisabeth d'Arvieu, chief executive of Mediawan Pictures. The festival's own programme page lists a wider roster of Speakers and Guests for 2026, according to the Zurich Film Festival.
Two newer names bring a different energy. Eline van der Velden, creator of the AI-generated performer Tilly Norwood, will take part. So will Kane Parsons, the director behind Backrooms, the viral horror concept now headed for a feature.
Basner's honour will end Saturday's programme. Sutherland will give a tribute before Berger interviews Basner in the Game Changer 2026 conversation. Basner is both the award recipient and a featured speaker at the Summit.
What makes this stand out is the mix. The Summit puts Academy leadership, agencies and production companies in the same room as creators who first built audiences online.
The Zurich Film Festival previously named investor and former Disney executive Kevin Mayer alongside Parsons, Kramer, d'Arvieu and Cakarel in its Summit announcements, according to the Zurich Film Festival. Deadline is the official media partner of the Summit. Its team will moderate panels and host interviews from the Deadline Studio on site.
