‘Late Shift’ wins top Swiss film prize for 2026

"Heldin (Late Shift)" by Swiss-Italian screenwriter and director Petra Volpe (third from right). Keystone-SDA

Heldin (Late Shift) by Swiss-Italian screenwriter and director Petra Volpe was chosen as the best feature of the year at the 2026 Swiss Film Awards in Zurich on Friday evening.

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The film starring Leonie Boesch was chosen over the literary adaptation La Cache by Lionel Baier, and over Nicolas Steiner’s black-and-white feature film debut Sie glauben an Engel, Herr Drowak?, the historical drama À bras-le-corps by Marie-Elsa Sgualdo and Piet Baumgartner’s Bagger Drama. The last two films were nominated for a total of seven Swiss Film Awards; in the end, they took home two trophies each.

Four prizes for ‘Late Shift’

Petra Volpe’s film secured a total of four awards, including best screenplay and best sound. It also won the first-ever “Box Office Quartz” award for the film with the highest box office figures (207,000 cinema admissions).

The movie pays tribute to hospital nursing staff and accompanies a nurse on her late shift. It can currently be streamed on Netflix or Cinefile.

Volpe won her first Swiss Film Award in 2017, as the screenwriter of The Divine Order.

Best documentary film and best music

I Love You, I Leave You by Moris Freiburghaus won best documentary. The film tells the story of his best friend, musician Dino Brandão, who is bipolar. It follows the singer-songwriter and guitarist between highs and lows.

The intimate film, which also won a Golden Eye prize in the documentary film competition at the Zurich Film Festival, is accompanied by Dino Brandão’s music. On Friday, the film won a second prize for best film music.

In the two main categories, “Best Feature Film” and “Best Documentary Film”, the winners also received CHF25,000 each in prize money.

Adapted from German by AI/sb

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