Film Program for the "10. Zuger Filmtage” (Zug Film Festival): Frank & Louis

Petra Volpe - 2026 - 94 min - CH/UK - EN with German & French subtitles

Frank (Kingsley Ben-Adir), a man in his forties, is serving a life sentence—with the prospect of parole. To cope with the brutal reality of daily prison life, he has emotionally shut himself off from the world. When he is transferred to a new facility, he decides to join the “Gold Coats”—a program in which inmates care for fellow prisoners suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia. He hopes that this commitment will improve his chances of parole. The work is demanding, but Frank develops an unexpected bond with one of his patients, Louis Nelson (Rob Morgan), a man who was once feared for his power and authority. Caring for him pushes Frank to his physical and emotional limits.

The new film by Swiss director Petra Volpe, known for *HELDIN*, comes from the Lucerne-based production company Zodiac Pictures. It celebrated its world premiere at the renowned Sundance Film Festival and is now showing here in Zug.

Petra Volpe * 1970

Petra Volpe, born in Suhr, works as a screenwriter and director. She studied dramaturgy and screenwriting at the Konrad Wolf Film University in Babelsberg. She has won several awards for her films, including *The Divine Order* and *HELDIN*. In addition to her Swiss projects, she works as a writer and director in the U.S. for companies such as Fox Searchlight and Disney. She lives in Berlin and New York.

In this program segment, the following short films will be screened before the feature film:

Mannwerdung

Sophie Marlen Pudewell - Essay Film - 4 min 44 sec - U19

What does masculinity mean today? What happens when gender stereotypes change? How do you deal with a sense of disorientation? A young man asks questions, experiments, reflects, and hopes for a future of equality.

Blue Rider

Luca Querio, Gabriel Berrada, Julien Monges - Action - 10 min 45 sec

Bochard, an eccentric monster hunter, falls in love with a monster at first sight. Knowing that this romance is forbidden, he must choose between his profession and his heart.

Kein Grund zur Panik

Finn Stapelberg - Animation - 6 min 36 sec - U19

A goose watches as her friends gradually disappear due to accidents and extreme weather events. Only when she survives a devastating forest fire as the sole member of the flock does she realize that the geese should have acted much sooner.

The Q&As will be translated into English.