Naomi Watts to Receive Zurich Film Festival Golden Eye Award

Naomi Watts will be honored with the Golden Eye Award at the 2026 Zurich Film Festival for her performance in the upcoming film The Housewife. The festival announced on August 20 that the two-time Oscar nominee will accept the award in person on September 26 and participate in a subsequent Masters session about her career.

The award recognizes Watts's role in The Housewife, a drama directed by Ben Shirinian. The film is based on a true story and is set in 1960s New York. It follows a young New York Times journalist, played by Tye Sheridan, who uncovers clues suggesting a man living in Queens, portrayed by Luke Evans, may be a former Nazi officer. Watts plays the man's elegant and enigmatic wife, whose friendship with the reporter becomes central to the unfolding investigation.

Festival CEO Christian Jungen praised the actress in the announcement. "Since her breakthrough in David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, Naomi Watts has been one of the most fascinating actresses of our time," Jungen said. He added that her performances thrive on "the tension between glamour and darkness" and that in The Housewife, she "masters this ambiguity as an elegant and mysterious woman." Jungen also noted...