Zurich Film Festival to honor Sony Pictures Classics Michael Barker, and Tom Bernard with the Game Changer Award

Michael Barker and Tom Bernard will receive the Game Changer award of the 2022 Zurich Film Festival, a lifetime achievement award for film industry professionals. Barker and Bernard co-founded SPC with Marcie Bloom in January 1992, pioneering and popularizing independent and international arthouse cinema distribution in the US.

The group’s hits range from Tom Tykwer’s Run Lola Run, released in 1998, to Ang Lee’s Chinese-language blockbuster Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash, released in 2014.

Michael Barker and Tom Bernard have been nominated for 183 Academy Awards, including nine for best picture, and have won 41. The Sony Pictures Classics label is synonymous with intelligent auteur cinema among film fans, said Christian Jungen, artistic director of the Zurich Film Festival.

Since the mid-1980s, Michael and Tom have been producing and distributing sophisticated entertainment. Among their highlights are the introductions of such great European filmmakers as Almodóvar, Wenders, and Maren Ade to the American public and the introduction of the best American independent cinema to the world.

There have been others who have come and gone – they have remained for 30 years, successful and loyal to the cinema. We would like to honor this achievement with the Game Changer award.”

Barker and Bernard will accept the award in Zurich during the festival’s industry-focused Zurich Summit on Sunday, Sept. 25. September 22-October 2 is the date of the 18th Zurich International Film Festival.

Robert Poirrer

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