Zurich Film Festival names first gala titles for 2026, featuring Peter Farrelly’s ‘I Play Rocky’ and Channing Tatum’s ‘Josephine’

The Zurich Film Festival has announced its first selection of gala titles for its 2026 edition, scheduled to run September 9 through October 10. The festival’s gala program includes two highly anticipated new films, one tied to Peter Farrelly and another starring Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan, according to the festival announcement first published by Deadline on August 12.

Among the gala titles is the European premiere of Peter Farrelly’s I Play Rocky. The film is described as starring Anthony Ippolito in the role of Sylvester Stallone, with additional cast members including Matt Dillon and Stephan James. The production is positioned on the festival calendar as part of the gala slate for the Zurich event’s opening period.

I Play Rocky is being presented in Zurich as a European premiere, a distinction that typically indicates the film’s first screening on the continent among festivals and launch events participating in regional premieres. The gala placement is expected to draw attention from buyers, press, and audiences seeking early access to major international releases.

The other gala title named in the first list is Josephine, a film described as starring Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan, with the selection credited to its director, whose name is not included in the published summary. Josephine is scheduled as part of the festival’s gala lineup for the same September-October window, placing it alongside I Play Rocky in the festival’s top-billed program.

Deadline’s report frames the announcement as the first set of gala titles for the Zurich Film Festival’s 2026 edition, implying additional programming and further selections will be made later. The festival’s staggered announcements can be used by festivals and distributors to maintain publicity momentum while aligning premieres with distribution timelines.

For audiences and industry participants, gala titles often function as a barometer for what a festival views as its most prominent international contributions, particularly when films are newly released or newly introduced to a regional market. In this case, the inclusion of an explicitly labeled European premiere suggests a coordinated release strategy that reaches beyond Switzerland and into broader European viewing circuits.

The festival’s 2026 run begins September 9 and extends through October 10, and the gala titles announced now are likely to anchor early coverage while the rest of the lineup is scheduled to be disclosed in subsequent waves. Until further details are published, the specific dates, screening venues within Zurich, and any additional cast or production credits for Josephine remain outside the details provided in the announcement.