--- title: 'Martin McDonagh Heads to Zurich With a Career Honor and a New Dark Comedy' type: 'blog post' section: 'Away From Set' standfirst: 'The Zurich Film Festival will give McDonagh its A Tribute To... Award during a gala screening of Wild Horse Nine, his first feature since The Banshees of Inisherin. The film arrives there after its Venice world premiere.' author: 'CinePixo' published: '2026-08-06' updated: '2026-08-06' about_people: - 'Martin McDonagh' - 'Sam Rockwell' - 'Steve Buscemi' - 'John Malkovich' - 'Mariana di Girolamo' - 'Tom Waits' - 'Parker Posey' about_films: - 'The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)' - 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)' - 'In Bruges (2008)' - 'Seven Psychopaths (2012)' tags: - 'Martin McDonagh Zurich Film Festival honor' - 'Wild Horse Nine Venice premiere' - 'Wild Horse Nine cast John Malkovich Sam Rockwell' - 'Martin McDonagh A Tribute To Award' - 'The Banshees of Inisherin follow up' sources: - 'https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/martin-mcdonagh-to-receive-zurich-film-festival-honorary-award/ar-AA29wKEk' - 'https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/movies/articles/martin-mcdonagh-receive-zurich-film-130000433.html' - 'https://variety.com/2026/film/news/martin-mcdonagh-zurich-film-festival-wild-horse-nine-1236829104/' - 'https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/zurich-fest-martin-mcdonagh-career-honor-wild-horse-nine-1236665704/' canonical: 'https://cinepixo.com/blog/martin-mcdonagh-heads-to-zurich-with-a-career-honor-and-a-new-dark-comedy' publisher: 'CinePixo' --- # Martin McDonagh Heads to Zurich With a Career Honor and a New Dark Comedy *The Zurich Film Festival will give McDonagh its A Tribute To... Award during a gala screening of Wild Horse Nine, his first feature since The Banshees of Inisherin. The film arrives there after its Venice world premiere.* By CinePixo, 2026-08-06 · Away From Set Martin McDonagh will receive the Zurich Film Festival’s A Tribute To... Award at the festival’s 22nd edition, with the honor presented during a gala screening of his new film, Wild Horse Nine. Deadline reported that McDonagh will accept the award in person in September, after the film has its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. The Hollywood Reporter reported that Wild Horse Nine will premiere in competition at Venice next month before the Zurich screening. For McDonagh, this is a tidy but loaded bit of timing: the career salute lands as his first feature since The Banshees of Inisherin begins its festival life. That is a hard act to follow. Banshees had the clean ache of a story that kept getting crueler without getting bigger, and it reminded people how sharp McDonagh can be when the joke and the wound arrive together. ## Zurich Is Giving Him Its A Tribute To... Award Zurich is presenting McDonagh with its A Tribute To... Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to cinema, according to Deadline, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter described the prize as one that recognizes filmmakers who have made a lasting impact on film history. Past recipients listed by Deadline include Noah Baumbach, Edward Berger, Paolo Sorrentino, Wim Wenders, Olivier Assayas, Claire Denis, Michael Haneke, Oliver Stone, Maiwenn and Luca Guadagnino. Zurich Film Festival CEO Christian Jungen framed the choice around McDonagh’s gift for dark comedy, character writing and actors, according to the reports. Deadline quoted Jungen calling McDonagh “one of the most exciting auteur filmmakers of his generation,” and praising the way his characters are pushed into absurd predicaments. Variety reported that Jungen also described Wild Horse Nine as one of the standout films of the season. Festival praise can run hot; that is part of the job. Still, McDonagh is a sensible fit for this kind of award. His films tend to leave people arguing about tone: whether the cruelty has grace in it, whether the punchlines cut too neatly, whether the moral snap arrives before the mess is done speaking. Those arguments are part of the work’s life. ![Actor Sam Rockwell at the premiere of Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die at the 2026 Berlin International Film Festival](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/08/b1026384-faf8-4b51-8b85-8b03fdefe674.webp) *Photo: Harald Krichel · [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sam_Rockwell-3920.jpg)* ## Wild Horse Nine Goes From Venice to Zurich Wild Horse Nine is McDonagh’s upcoming black comedy, Deadline reported. It stars John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits and Parker Posey, with Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas also named in the film’s story description. The film is set shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup, according to Deadline and Variety. Malkovich and Rockwell play CIA agents Chris and Lee, who leave Santiago for Easter Island. Buscemi plays MJ, their boss and bureau chief. The plot description, as reported by Deadline and Variety, puts Chris and Lee among the island’s statues while the longtime partners deal with their dark pasts and present conspiracies. Chris also forms a bond with two rebellious students, played by di Girolamo and Salas, and that connection threatens to push the trip off course. That premise sounds very much like McDonagh territory: men with official power, moral rot in the luggage, a remote setting, and the promise that an absurd turn will not be used to soften the nastier facts. The sources do not say how the film handles Chilean history, CIA presence or Easter Island beyond that synopsis, so the piece does not know more than that yet. ![Steve Buscemi at the Sundance Film Festival, January 2026](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/08/baa8e822-6714-4b44-9214-52c80cf0cb95.webp) ![John Malkovich, centre, with others on the stage of the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, March 2026](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/08/647bb538-c9e8-4816-9ce9-fcbcd76487c7.webp) *Photos: Colleen Sturtevant · [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Steve_Buscemi_at_the_Sundance_Film_Festival.jpg); Unknown author Unknown author · [CC BY 2.5 ar](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ar/deed.en) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_malkovich_en_el_teatro_colon.jpg)* ## The Cast Has a Familiar McDonagh Charge Sam Rockwell’s presence will matter to McDonagh watchers. The Hollywood Reporter noted that Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri won acting Oscars for Frances McDormand and Rockwell. Rockwell now returns in a McDonagh film as one half of the CIA-agent pair at the center of Wild Horse Nine. Malkovich opposite him is a nasty little promise on paper. The sources only identify him as Chris, one of the agents, but that pairing suggests a film built on pressure between talkers: clipped menace, comic timing, and the kind of conversational violence McDonagh has often trusted more than action. Buscemi as the bureau chief is another strong piece of casting. Deadline and Variety both name him as MJ, stationed with Chris and Lee in Santiago before the Easter Island trip. Tom Waits and Parker Posey are also in the film, though the supplied reports do not give their roles. That limit matters. It would be easy to start guessing how Waits or Posey fit into this world, because each brings a whole weather system into a movie by walking into the frame. The reports do not say, so for now their names are part of the charge around the film, not evidence of what the film is doing. ![Actress Mariana di Girolamo at the 81st Venice International Film Festival](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/08/18b8165c-9029-4054-8d44-ae7c86cbab1f.webp) ![Tom Waits at the 63rd annual New York Film Festival for the film "Father Mother Sister Brother"](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/08/c9f2b0bf-cde5-4a58-a491-44fea4c056b4.webp) *Photos: Harald Krichel · [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mariana_di_Girolamo-65124.jpg); PhilipRomanoPhoto · [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TomWaits-byPhilipRomano.jpg)* ## Why McDonagh Is Being Honored Now McDonagh first gained attention behind the camera with Six Shooter, the Academy Award-winning short, Deadline reported. He then wrote and directed In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Banshees of Inisherin. Variety reported that McDonagh received Academy Award nominations for best picture for Three Billboards and The Banshees of Inisherin, best director for The Banshees, and best original screenplay for In Bruges, Three Billboards and The Banshees. The Hollywood Reporter added that Three Billboards received seven Oscar nominations and The Banshees received nine. The Hollywood Reporter also noted McDonagh’s stage work, including The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, The Pillowman and Hangmen, and reported that his plays have been staged in the West End and on Broadway and performed in more than 40 countries in more than 30 languages. This is not McDonagh’s first Zurich moment. The Hollywood Reporter reported that Three Billboards and The Banshees both had gala screenings at the festival. Variety also reported that McDonagh will take part in a masterclass, offering insight into his creative process. The 22nd Zurich Film Festival runs from Sept. 24 to Oct. 4, according to Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter. By then, Wild Horse Nine will no longer be only a title and a cast list; it will have met Venice, and McDonagh will arrive in Zurich with another set of bruised men talking themselves toward trouble. ## In this piece - [Martin McDonagh](https://cinepixo.com/people/martin-mcdonagh) - [Sam Rockwell](https://cinepixo.com/people/sam-rockwell) - [Steve Buscemi](https://cinepixo.com/people/steve-buscemi) - [John Malkovich](https://cinepixo.com/people/john-malkovich) - [Mariana di Girolamo](https://cinepixo.com/people/mariana-di-girolamo) - [Tom Waits](https://cinepixo.com/people/tom-waits) - [Parker Posey](https://cinepixo.com/people/parker-posey) - 2022 · [The Banshees of Inisherin](https://cinepixo.com/movies/the-banshees-of-inisherin-2022) - 2017 · [Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri](https://cinepixo.com/movies/three-billboards-outside-ebbing-missouri-2017) - 2008 · [In Bruges](https://cinepixo.com/movies/in-bruges-2008) - 2012 · [Seven Psychopaths](https://cinepixo.com/movies/seven-psychopaths-2012) ## Sources - https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/martin-mcdonagh-to-receive-zurich-film-festival-honorary-award/ar-AA29wKEk - https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/movies/articles/martin-mcdonagh-receive-zurich-film-130000433.html - https://variety.com/2026/film/news/martin-mcdonagh-zurich-film-festival-wild-horse-nine-1236829104/ - https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/zurich-fest-martin-mcdonagh-career-honor-wild-horse-nine-1236665704/ Every factual claim above is drawn from these. The reading of them is ours. Source: https://cinepixo.com/blog/martin-mcdonagh-heads-to-zurich-with-a-career-honor-and-a-new-dark-comedy Written for CinePixo. Nothing on this page is imported prose.