45th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

Karlovy Vary IFF

Welcome

• The Karlovy Vary IFF is the most important international film festival of Category A in Central and Eastern Europe and the only festival of Category A in the Czech Republic
• The concept of the Karlovy Vary IFF is based on the advantageous geopolitical location of the Czech Republic on the border between Eastern and Western Europe
• The Karlovy Vary IFF presents annually for the first time in the Czech Republic more than 200 new films from the whole world
• The festival is open to the public and is visited by thousands of young people

Program

• The Karlovy Vary IFF is intended for lay as well as professional public and it offers to its visitors a carefully composed program, high-quality background, and a wide amount of services
• The closest attention is paid to the Official Selection - Competition, into which are selected only films made in the previous season and those that have not been previously shown in the competition section of any other festival of the Category A
• Apart from the Official Selection, the Documentary Films in Competition and East of the West - Films in Competition there are other already traditional informative sections and current thematic retrospectives put together for the audience
• Thanks to the Karlovy Vary IFF, the guests have a unique opportunity to see the best new films in this area, to discover new talents, and to meet a number of interesting personalities from artistic, economic, and political life
• It is particularly the professional public which appreciates the possibility to see the films which awoke great interest at festivals in Berlin, Cannes or at other prestigious world actions devoted to contemporary cinematography in such a short time and without the usual stress which can prevail at larger shows

History of the Karlovy Vary IFF

• The Karlovy Vary IFF is one of the oldest film festivals of all time (the first year took place in 1946). For more than 40 years the festival was organized under the pressure of the political situation in socialist Czechoslovakia. After the social changes in November 1989 the festival struggled for several years with lack of interest from the side of the state as well as public, in whose eyes it was almost irretrievably discredited
• In the year 1994 the organization of the festival was taken up by a new team, in the lead of which stood the well-known Czech actor Jiří Bartoška and the significant film columnist and critic Eva Zaoralová, who decided to transform the stagnant show into a film forum of international importance. Within a few years, the team of Jiří Bartoška and Eva Zaoralová managed to return to the festival the prestige and interest of both professional and lay public through its new programme as well as organizational concept

Successful films of the Karlovy Vary IFF

Every year there are several films appearing in the official competition which later achieve significant international success or which are announced to be the best domestic film of the year. A number of films from Eastern Europe introduced in an international or world premiere gained well-deserved international attention in Karlovy Vary. Among the successful films belong e.g.:

• Les Choristes, France
  Official Selection - Competition (KV IFF 2004), Oscar nomination, Golden Globe nomination, European Film Award, Cesar nomination
• Nowhere in Africa, Germany
  Special Jury Prize (KV IFF 2002), Academy Award for the Best Foreign Film of the year 2002, Golden Globe Nomination for the Best Foreign Film, 5 German film awards (including the award for the Best German Film of the Year)
• Amélie from Montmartre, France
  Grand Prix Crystal Globe (KV IFF 2001), 4 Cesar Awards (including a Cesar for the Best French Film), 4 European Film Awards, Golden Globe Nomination, 5 Academy Award Nominations (including the one for the Best Foreign Film), Audience Award at the IFF in Toronto and Chicago
• Ma Vie En Rose, Belgium/France/GB
  Grand Prix Crystal Globe (KV IFF 1997), Golden Globe for the Best Foreign Film, European Film Award for Screenplay, Cesar Nomination
• Prisoner of the Mountain, Russia
  Grand Prix Crystal Globe (KV IFF 1996), European Film Award, Academy Award Nomination for the Best Foreign Film, Golden Globe Nomination for the Best Foreign Film

Karlovy Vary – film, architecture and nature

• The atmosphere of the festival is illustrated by the unique place where the festival takes place – the picturesque centre of the world-famous spa town Karlovy Vary, which is situated 120 km westward from Prague close to the borders with Germany
• The whole festival is concentrated into the historical part of the town, through the centre of which winds the spa promenade connecting two basic centres of the festival occurrences – Hotel Thermal and Grandhotel Pupp
• An important factor in the modern history of the Karlovy Vary IFF is also its external form – that is, the original design and decoration of the festival are being modified every year. Architects and graphic designers start from the new festival trailer when preparing the upcoming year
• Every year one of the outstanding Czech makers is entrusted with shooting the festival trailer. This person receives nearly free space from the side of the festival to implement his or her own idea

Among the authors of the original festival trailer of the IFF Karlovy Vary belonged e.g.:

• director Jan Svěrák
  (Academy Award for the film Kolya, in addition for example films The Elementary School, Accumulator, Dark Blue World)
• director Jan Hřebejk
  (Academy Award nomination for the film Divided We Fall, in addition for example films The Jackal Years aka Big Beat, Cosy Dens, Pupendo)
• the Caban brothers
  (theatre and film directors)
• Ivan Zachariáš
  (one of the most successful European advertising makers)
• director David Ondříček
  (for example films Loners, One Hand Can’t Clap)
• director Petr Zelenka
  (for example films Buttoners, Year of the Devil)

Visitors of the Festival

• The Karlovy Vary IFF is in its category one of the few festivals open to lay public
• The beginning of summer holidays has become the traditional time when thousands of young people from the Czech Republic as well as from abroad transform the otherwise calm spa town of Karlovy Vary into a several-day-long celebration of joy and peace
• It is precisely these people who create an unforgettable atmosphere at the Karlovy Vary festival, and who again and again surprise especially foreign visitors by their interest and unaffected acceptance of films that are often challenging

Among other distinguished foreign guests of the festival belonged in the last years e.g.:

Madeleine Albright, Alan Alda, Lauren Bacall, Bruce Beresford, Gael Garcia Bernal, Thora Birch, Jacqueline Bisset, Florinda Bolkan, John Boorman, Orla Brady, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Saffron Burrows, Ellen Burstyn, Steve Buscemi, Javier Camara, Xen Cassavetes, Seymour Cassel, Ben Chaplin, John Cleese, Sean Connery, Brian Cox, Jeremy Davies, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Dillon, Cameron Douglas, Diana Douglas, Michael Douglas, Clea DuVall, Atom Egoyan, Mia Farrow, Louise Fletcher, Milos Forman, Robert Forster, William Forsythe, Kerry Fox, Stephen Frears, Morgan Freeman, Stephen Fry, Ben Gazzara, Amos Gitai, Heather Graham, Whoopi Goldberg, Woody Harrelson, Rutger Hauer, Salma Hayek, Bernard Hill, Philip Seymour Hofmann, Nicholas Hoult, John Irvin, Guillermo Jimenez Díaz, Harvey Keitel, Kim Ki-duk, Udo Kier, Nastassja Kinski, Ben Kingsley, Keira Knightley, Emir Kusturica, Michael Madsen, Fele Martinez, Colm Meaney, Paul Morrissey, Edward Norton, Julia Ormond, Alexander Payne, Gregory Peck, Michael Pitt, Roman Polanski, Robert Redford, Tim Roth, Walter Salles, Julian Sands, Carlos Saura, Gus van Sant, John Schlesinger, Liev Schreiber, Stellan Skarsgård, Rod Steiger, Sharon Stone, Max von Sydow, István Szabó, Sylvie Testud, Liv Ullmann, Deborah Kara Unger, Thomas Vinterberg, Christopher Walker, Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz, Tom Wilkinson, Ray Winstone, Greg Wise, Robert Wise, Elijah Wood, Geoffrey Wright, Michael York, Saoul Zaentz and Franco Zeffirelli

Media

• 500 Czech as well as foreign accredited journalists is a number that already serves as a stable guarantee that worldwide attention will be paid to the festival
• All the most important Czech media inform about the preparations of the festival all-year-round, and they bring information from its course every day
• The space which is devoted to the festival by the foreign – and usually also by the domestic – media is incomparably bigger than the space devoted to any other cultural action not only in the Czech Republic but also in the whole Central European region
• Thanks to the high level of attention that the media pay to the festival, the last year partners established good relations with a number of domestic as well as foreign media