Z365" or "Festival all year round" is the new strategic point of the Festival in which converge investigation, accompaniment and development of new talents (Ikusmira Berriak, Nest); training and cinematic knowledge transfer (Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola, Zinemaldia + Plus, Filmmakers' dialogue); and investigation, disclosure and cinematic thought (Z70 project, Thought and Discussion and Research and publications).
Born in France, Francine Brücher studied foreign languages at the University of Lyon. She started her film carreer in Munich in 1972 as head of foreign sales at Filmverlag der Autoren, handling films by R.W. Fassbinder, Wim Wenders, Werner Schroeter, Alexander Kluge, Edgar Reitz. She founded in 1977 Munic Films, a sales company for independent german films.
From 1986 - 1993 head of world sales for Metropolis Film Zürich and from 1994 until 1997 she was a free lance sales agent for Pierre Grise Productions in Paris handling films by Jacques Rivette, Otar Iosseliani or Chantal Akermann, as well as working for several film festivals (Locarno, Rotterdam) and member of the selection comitee for Film Fund Hamburg.
In 1997 she joined Swiss Films in Zürich which promotes Swiss Cinema abroad. She was a marketing expert at two workshops of the Media Program EAVE. Since 2003 member of the Comité de Lecture of the Luxembourg Film Fund. She left Swiss Films on January 2013, has been serving as a Jury member for several film festivals, lives now in Munich as a film consultant for independent producers.