'The Help' to Close Zurich Film Festival

COLOGNE, Germany - Tate Taylor's civil rights-era drama The Help will close the 7th Zurich International Film Festival on Oct. 2.  Zurich's complete lineup, unveiled Wednesday, shows the Swiss fest has come of age in its seventh year, with several world and European premieres of high-profile titles including Bennett Miller's Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt and Woody Harrelson-starrer Rampart from director Oren Moverman. Zurich has also cherry-picked some of the hottest films from Venice, including George Clooney's Ides of March, David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method and Steve McQueen's shocker Shame. Steven Soderbergh's Contagion, starring Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law, opens the Zurich Film Festival Sept. 22.

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The Help, starring Emma Stone and Viola Davis, was a smash summer hit for Disney, earning more than $125 million domestically. The film is just starting its international rollout and using key foreign festivals as release platforms is clearly part of Disney's strategy to attract a global audience. The Help bowed in the U.K. in August as part of Empire Magazine's Big Screen event and debuted in France last week at the Deauville American Film Festival.