Karlovy Vary Festival is back in style – The Hollywood Reporter

In regions of the world (Central and Eastern Europe) that are rarely celebrated these days, the news is that the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival will be back in earnest this year (the 56th KVIFF will be held from July 1st to 9th). There really is. The reason for the party.

“Last year there was a physical event, but it was still under the clouds of COVID,” says Karel Och, artistic director of KVIFF. “This time, everyone feels really good. You can feel the carnival atmosphere that makes Karlovy Vary special. It’s close to that. [the last pre-pandemic festival] 2019 as much as possible. “

Karlovy Vary occupies a unique position on the festival calendar. After the madness of Cannes, before the launch of the award season, which begins in Venice and Toronto, the Czech festival offers a peaceful oasis. Located in a hot spring town perfect for postcards in western Bohemia, it has been a place of relaxation since at least the 19th century. Last year, UNESCO recognized Karlovy Vary as a World Heritage Site and listed it as one of the “great hot spring towns of Europe”. — The festival is popular with locals watching movies, as well as the industry’s A-lister, who gathers south of the capital Prague and spends the first week of summer vacation there, using KVIFF’s red carpet. I have. As a place to combine their new release for the community with a little work and lots of joy.

This year’s A-listers will include Oscar winners Benicio del Toro and Geoffrey Rush, both of whom will be honored at the 2022 event. traffic When The usual suspect Star Del Toro is awarded the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival President’s Award for filmmakers who have “fundamentally contributed to the development of film and film.”Rush, the highlights of that career are: King’s speech (2010), Quill pen (2000) and Shining (1996), receive KVIFF Crystal Gloves for outstanding artistic contributions to the World Cinema, an honor of the festival’s lifetime achievements.

Over the years, Karlovy Vary had little trouble attracting celebrity guests with bold names. Among the recent celebrities, Patrika Clarkson, Johnny Depp, Thomasin McKenzie, Ethan Hawke and Robert Pattinson walked the KVIFF red carpet in front of Hotel Thermal. The hotel and spa were specially built in 1977 to host the national premier film festival.

“This festival is really loved by celebrities, partly because it honors celebrities not only as an actor but also as a filmmaker,” says festival executive director Krishtohumcha. .. “So when we praised John Malkovich and Antonio Banderas, we also celebrated their work as a director. Last year, we introduced not only actor Johnny Depp, but also producer Johnny Depp. did [of Julien Temple’s Shane MacGowan music doc Crock of Gold].. “

Karlovy Vary is a relief for A-listers accustomed to the busy press schedules of Berlin, Cannes and Venice.

“There isn’t much pressure on people to do it all day for press junkets, Q & A and other events,” says Muncha. “Celebrities can attend or not attend as many festivals as they like. It’s always a combination of work and vacation.”

The official lineup of the 2022 Karlovy Vary Festival is a similar combination of fun and seriousness. This year’s program includes more than 160 feature and short films, 34 of which are premiered worldwide.

Alongside Cannes favorites, including the Ruben Östlund Palme d’Or Award Triangle of sadness And the winner of the Jury Prize Eight mountains From Felix van Groningen and Charlotte van der Meer, and EoJerzy Skolimowski’s donkey road movie, KVIFF programmers have carefully selected the best of the new Eastern European movies, including competition titles. Boundary of lovePolish director Tomasz Wiński, Czech director Beata Parkanová new features SloboAnd Lithuanian science fiction features Vesper World premiere at Karlovy Vary by directors Christina Buozite and Bruno Samper.

The imaginary section of the festival will feature more challenging and experimental works, such as the documentary fiction of Julian Karani. AtlantisVéréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Odyssey focused on Taylor’s human body Manufacture of tinea corporis.. At KVIFF’s popular midnight screening, cult director Kantan Dupuy (Smoking causes a cough), Alex Garland (menu) And David Cronenberg (Future crime).

“We are one of the oldest film festivals in the world. [the festival’s first edition, in 1946, was just one month after Cannes’ debut]But we still like to think that our hearts are young, “says Och. “The core programming team is in their 20s and 30s, and the majority of the festival’s audience is students.”

Indeed, despite Karlovy Vary’s luxurious location, KVIFF creates an atmosphere closer to a nine-day music festival than a sultry industry tax and gown event.

“This is a public festival, the first week of July, the first week of summer vacation,” Mucha said. “So the students lose their strength and spend the first week watching a movie in Karlovy Vary.”

Karlovy Vary’s legendary “Tent City” is located on the outskirts of the festival and has a “woodstock-like atmosphere”. KVIFF, in Muncha’s words, is on a tight budget. “Keep prices as low as possible … You can watch 3 movies a day for less than $ 2 [a ticket].. “

Muncha says this egalitarian approach sets Karlovy Vary apart from more industry-focused events like Cannes and Sundance.

“When we show a movie at these festivals, we see that the vast majority of people in the theater are professionals,” he says. “At Karlovy Vary, the majority, perhaps 80 percent, are regular fans. For many filmmakers, this is a film from the perspective of a regular audience, critics, sales, or cinema owners. Not judging, but for the film itself is the first screening of their film in front of the audience there. For the story. “

KVIFF established a laid-back audience-first approach in the mid-’90s. After working for 40 years under political pressure in the socialist Czechoslovakia (pressure including the need to replace the Moscow International Film Festival every year), KVIFF became the famous Czech acting legend Jiří Bartoška (Secal must die, All my loved ones, Tiger theory) And leading film journalist Eva Zaoralová took over the management of the event. They are the Oscar-winning Czech director Milos Forman (On the cuckoo’s nest, Amadeus, People vs. people.Larry Flint), The mission was to promote KVIFF in Hollywood.

“He picked up the phone and called a friend like Michael Douglas. He knew it was produced by Douglas. On the cuckoo’s nest“I knew Douglas would spend his summer vacation in Europe, so he asked if he would go to the festival. I did the same. [The People Vs. Larry Flint actors] Woody Harrelson and Edward Norton. They will come because everyone respected him so much and trusted him. “

Foreman, who died in 2018, did not outperform the advertising stunts if it was useful for the festival. In the mid-’90s, the director cycled about 80 miles from Prague to Karlovy Vary, arriving in bike gear and sweatbands, the perfect image of KVIFF’s egalitarian spirit.

“Milos Forman, who became internationally famous, was very important to Karlovy Vary as a symbol of Czech filmmakers and Czech artists who maintained their Czech sensibility and sense of humor.” Ock says. “His spirit never disappears from Karlovy Vary.”

KVIFF continues to celebrate Foreman’s “freedom of everything,” as Och says, but the 2022 festival is also more business-like. KVIFF Eastern Promises Industry Days, the industry section of the event, will take place July 3-6, parallel to the festival’s home, and is a major networking and discussion hub focused on filmmaking and distribution in the region. became.

The festival was directly involved in the latter, with its distribution division, KVIFF Distribution, acquiring a majority stake in Aerofilms, the leading art house distributor in the Czech Republic. Aerofilms’ movie catalog, which includes more than 500 titles, will be fed to KVIFF TV, the festival’s VOD streaming platform, backed by investment from Jakub Havrlant’s Rockaway Capital, with the aim of becoming an online player across the region.

“Three years later, we want to get ourselves in the European film market in Berlin and Cannes. For example, after showing in Karlovy Vary, it’s not just physical films and the Czech Republic, but wider. Online distribution throughout CEE [central and eastern European] “Region”, says Och.

Karlovy Vary is now providing more direct support to those who have been hit hardest by CEE. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February of this year has confused or expelled Ukrainian filmmakers.

The supporting show focuses on eight feature film projects by up-and-coming Ukrainian filmmakers, whose production was discontinued due to the war, with KVIFF hosting an ongoing program at the Odesa International Film Festival on July 5. Guess. Everyone is looking for potential production, funding and distribution partners to show their films.

Although the OdesaWIP program is only a small part of KVIFF2022, Och believes it is essential to the festival’s key goal of supporting and maintaining the film industry in the region now and in the future.

“Looking back 30 years ago when the Czechoslovak film industry emerged after the collapse of the communist government, it was a big challenge, but the infrastructure, buildings and studios were still in place,” Och said. say. .. “What we are talking about in Ukraine is that the whole city is disappearing. Filmmakers are not only creative, they have no place to sleep or live. Ukrainian filmmakers Many of them now put their cameras on the front lines to fight, but they are still filmmakers and hopefully they will be able to return to normal and creative life as soon as possible. . “