Biography

Karl Spoerri co-founded the Zurich Film Festival in 2005. As artistic director of the festival, he led it to become the largest fall festival in the German-speaking world with over 130,000 visitors and 160 films screened each year. Spoerri is also the founder of the Zurich Summit, the most important industry event of the Zurich Film Festival. In 2014, he initiated the film magazine "Frame" in collaboration with NZZ am Sonntag. Spoerri and his business partners sold the festival and the associated marketing company Spoundation Motion Picture AG, the current owner of the "Frame" cinema in Zurich, to NZZ Mediengruppe AG, and he resigned from his position as artistic director of the ZFF in 2019.

In his further career as a producer and executive producer, Spoerri worked on David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method with Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender. With Zurich Avenue, Spoerri was executive producer on films such as Julian Schnabel's At Eternity's Gate with Willem Dafoe, David Lowery's The Old Man & the Gun with Robert Redford and Casey Affleck, Harmony Korine's The Beach Bum with Matthew McConaughey, Snoop Dogg and Isla Fisher, and Roland Emmerich's Moonfall.

As a producer, he brought Bill Pohlad's Dreamin' Wild with Casey Affleck, Zooey Deschanel and Beau Bridges to the big screen. The film celebrated its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival 2022 and was released by Roadside Attractions in the USA in summer 2023. Zurich Avenue also co-developed the acclaimed Netflix production Nyad starring Jodie Foster and Annette Bening together with Black Bear Pictures. Nyad celebrated its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival and screened at all the fall festivals before the film was successfully launched on Netflix. Spoerri also produced the Sundance breakout hit "Thelma" starring June Squibb, Fred Hechinger, Richard Roundtree, Parker Posey and Clark Gregg.
- IMDb mini biography by: Karl Spoerri

Karl is the founder of the Zurich Film Festival. He sold the festival to NZZ Medien AG in 2016. He served as the Artistic Director of ZFF for 15 years until 2019 and was the driving force behind its success and growth. He is also the founder of the Zurich Summit and the production company Zurich Avenue AG. Karl is married to Viviana Vezzani, and they have a daughter. They live in Zurich and Los Angeles.