For the love of cinema

With a passion for filmmaking that is shown through support of international film festivals in New York, Beijing, Zurich, London and Dubai, IWC truly believes that the bonds between the world of watchmaking and filmmaking run deep.

Apart from these involvements, the company has maintained friendly relations over many years with some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry, including well-renowned actors like Cate Blanchett, Christoph Waltz, Zhou Xun, James Marsden and Ewan McGregor, or director Marc Forster. IWC watches have already featured in countless movies and U.S. TV series. More specifically, the main characters in the thriller Wall Street, box-office smash Ocean’s Thirteen, actioncomedy RED, and espionage-thriller The Bourne Legacy have all sported watches made in Schaffhausen.

They are also equally popular with the lead actors in the American TV series Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice and The Good Wife.

With the express aim of promoting up-and-coming filmmakers, IWC also founded the IWC Filmmaker Award several years ago, to promote the vision of storytellers of all genres whose work clearly demonstrates that they have gone above and beyond just making a film; they have used exquisite attention to detail and unusual and signature techniques to manipulate the medium, thus creating an unforgettable sensory experience for the audience. IWC presents the award as part of its commitment to the film festivals.

TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL®

April - New York

Tribeca Enterprises’s mission is to provide artists with unique platforms to expand the audience for their works and to broaden the access point for consumers to experience independent film and media. The Tribeca Film Festival has screened more than 1,400 films from over 80 countries since its first edition. Since its inception, the Festival has attracted an international audience of more than 4 million attendees.

It was founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff in 2001 following the attacks on the World Trade Center, to spur the economic and cultural revitalization of the lower Manhattan neighborhood. Through an annual celebration of film, music and culture, the Festival unites the industry and community through storytelling.

IWC is Official ‘Festival-Time’ Partner of the world-renowned Tribeca Film Festival® since 2013. Becoming partners to a major film festival in the U.S. also takes IWC back to our roots: it was Florentine Ariosto Jones, an American engineer and watchmaker from Boston, who founded IWC International Watch Co. back in 1868. Driven by a typically American pioneering spirit, he combined forward-looking U.S. production technologies with the skilled craftsmanship of Swiss watchmakers.

BEIJING INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Beijing – April

Targeting the “Share the Screen, Shape the Future” program, the Festival is designed as a large international, professional, innovative, high-end and market-oriented film event; as a significant platform for the Chinese film industry to integrate with the world and to unfold cooperation, exchanges and deals with the international film community; and as a major cultural event of Beijing in the effort to build itself as the cultural center of China.

Beijing International Film Festival was held in April, 2011 for the first time. About 7,000 domestic and international professionals from the film industry representing over 1,000 film groups took part at the 2014 edition of Beijing International Film Festival.

IWC made its first appearance as sponsor at the 2013 Beijing International Film Festival. IWC’s role as sponsor enables the company to demonstrate both passion for the world of filmmaking and the significance of the Chinese market for the brand.

THE ZURICH FILM FESTIVAL

Zurich – September

The aim of the Zurich Film Festival is to offer audiences an insight into the work of the most promising filmmakers from around the globe and to promote the exchange of ideas between established film workers, creative talent and the public. Emerging directors have the opportunity to present their films to the wide attention of the entire German-language market. Participants come from all over the world and include both rising and renowned filmmakers as well as buyers, sellers, distributors, media professionals and industry leaders.

The Zurich Film Festival began in October 2005 and became firmly established upon the national and international festival landscape within a very short period of time. The festival continues to grow rapidly. In 2014, about 79’000 visitors and more than 500 accredited journalists attended the screenings.

The two partners’ first joint venture has been the Zurich Film Festival 2014, which coincided with the Festival’s tenth anniversary.

BFI LONDON FILM FESTIVAL

London – October

BFI combine cultural, creative and industrial roles, bringing together the BFI National Archive and BFI Reuben Library, film distribution, exhibition and education at BFI Southbank and BFI IMAX, publishing and festivals. BFI is a charity governed by a Royal Charter.

The BFI was founded in 1933. As the lead body for film in the UK, the BFI maintains a number of creative, strategic and funding relationships with industry and key stakeholders investing in education and audiences, filmmaking and film heritage.

IWC made its first appearance as sponsor at the 2014 BFI London Film Festival. IWC Schaffhausen has been appointed a partner of the BFI (British Film Institute) and the BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express® for 2014, 2015 and 2016.

DUBAI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Dubai – December

The Dubai International Film Festival, the leading film festival in the Middle East and Africa, is held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President & Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, and under the honorary chairmanship of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum. DIFF has established itself as a major international festival, while continuing to serve as a premier showcase event for Arab cinema, and contributing to the development and growth of the regional industry.

Since its inception in 2004, the festival has served as an influential platform for Arab filmmakers and talent at an international level by spearheading the cinema movement in the region. Each year DIFF presents new and exciting cinema from the Arab world and beyond, introducing audiences to fresh new talent and original, intelligent and distinctive filmmaking.

The extended commitment from IWC is the result of a successful partnership started in 2010, in which IWC has served as the Official ‘Festival-Time’ Partner of the Gulf Film Festival and DIFF. In 2012, IWC and DIFF launched the IWC Filmmaker Award to support Gulf filmmakers, and the production of a feature-length fiction film with an award that offers a cash prize of $100,000 to help the winner transfer their vision to the screen.

IWC Schaffhausen - Film-festivals