Karl Spoerri is CEO of Zurich Avenue, the Zurich and Los Angeles-based production company that he co-founded with Viviana Vezzani and Tobias Gutzwiller. Specializing in developing and creating high-end, inspiring and filmmaker-driven feature films, TV series and documentaries for a global audience, Zurich Avenue is committed to delivering top-quality content that resonates with diverse viewers worldwide. With a proven track record from producing and financing films and relationships built from creating and shaping the Zurich Film Festival into a vital stop for movies, the team launched Zurich Avenue in August 2022.
In 2005, Spoerri co-founded the Zurich Film Festival after bringing the digital film festival “onedotzero_adventures in moving images” to Zurich. Under his leadership, the festival grew to become the largest and most important fall festival in the German language market, attracting over 130,000 visitors annually and showcasing 160 films per year. Spoerri was also the founder and co-chairman of the Zurich Summit, an international annual conference on film and entertainment finance. Additionally, he launched Frame in partnership with NZZ am Sonntag in 2014, which became the largest film magazine in the German-speaking market with more than 140,000 readers. In 2019, after selling the festival to the NZZ Media Group, Spoerri stepped down from his role as Artistic Director of the Zurich Film Festival.
Spoerri also served as managing director of Millbrook Pictures, overseeing projects such as Oliver Stone's W. and David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method starring Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender.
Under his subsequent banners SPK Pictures and Zurich Avenue, Spoerri served as an executive producer on films such as Julian Schnabel’s At Eternity’s Gate starring Willem Dafoe; David Lowery’s The Old Man & the Gun starring Robert Redford and Casey Affleck; Harmony Korine’s The Beach Bum starring Matthew McConaughey, Snoop Dogg and Isla Fisher and Roland Emmerich’s Moonfall. His producing credits include Bill Pohlad’s critically-acclaimed Venice title Dreamin’ Wild starring Casey Affleck, Zooey Deschanel and Beau Bridges, set for release by Roadside Attractions in August; Coky Giedroyc’s Greatest Days, the big-screen adaptation of the UK smash-hit musical "The Band," featuring Aisling Bea and music from Take That, which will be released in the UK this year and Josh Margolin’s action-comedy Thelma, starring June Squibb, Fred Hechinger, Richard Roundtree, Parker Posey and Clark Gregg, currently in post-production.
Spoerri began his career as a trained actor and performed under the direction of many renowned directors at the Schauspielhaus Zürich, one of the most important theatres in the German-speaking world. He later transitioned into talent representation and spent much of his early career as an agent representing actors, writers and directors.
Zurich Avenue sits under the banner of the principals’ existing production finance company, SPG3 Entertainment.