Mads Mikkelsen to receive Zurich Film Festival’s Golden Eye Award

Mikkelsen, star of films like ‘Pusher’, ‘The Hunt’, ‘Another Round’ and many others, will receive the award on October 6 before presenting his new film ‘The Promised Land’

Mads Mikkelsen poses for photographers during the photo call for the film ‘The Promised Land’ during the 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice | Photo Credit: Vianney Le Caer

Danish star Mads Mikkelsen will be honoured by the Zurich Film Festival’s with its Golden Eye Award for career achievement.

According to entertainment website Deadline, Mikkelsen will receive the award on October 6 before presenting his new film The Promised Land.

In the Nikolaj Arcel-directed movie, he plays an impoverished Captain Ludvig Kahlen who tries to make the the harsh, uninhabitable Jutland heath fertile and defend it against thieves in the 18th century.

The 57-year-old actor will also hold a masterclass at Zurich, during which he will talk about his film and his career.

“Mads Mikkelsen is a very charismatic actor who always completely immerses himself in his characters and captivates the audience with his looks and physical performance.

"He radiates strength and sometimes vulnerability at the same time and, as a leading actor, is able to carry films from A to Z, as he does in his latest work The Promised Land. We are very pleased to welcome Mikkelsen to Zurich for the first time," the festival's artistic director Christian Jungen said in a statement.

Mikkelsen, who has worked in various film productions of Europe and North America, received a BAFTA nomination and a European Film Award for his 2020 film Another Round. It was his second movie with filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg, following 2013’s The Hunt, for which he won the best actor at the Cannes Film Festival.

His last Hollywood release was Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

The Zurich Film Festival runs from September 28 to October 8.