A Boy, a Czech and No Werewolves Martin Krejčí’S ﬁ Rst American Feature ﬁ Lm Challenged the Successful Commercial Director to Scale New Heights

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Main competition: To the Stars and Ode to Nothing 02 daily In Fabric: Blood, sweat and tears 03 Midnight Screenings: Classic chills and gross-outs 04 special edition of Právo Photo: Jan Handrejch Photo:

Actor Jaeden Martell with the director at Tuesday’s world premiere of The True Adventures of Wolfboy in the Grand Hall. A boy, a Czech and no werewolves Martin Krejčí’s ﬁ rst American feature ﬁ lm challenged the successful commercial director to scale new heights

Th e story of 13-year-old Paul, who suff ers from a rare disease that causes thick hair lievable. It was a nightmare. Poor about it,” recalls Krejčí, describing Jaeden.” Martell as a “Buddhist monk-slash- to grow all over his face and body, is not the stuff of Marvel comics, director Martin As for his vision, the director ninja-slash-I-don’t-know-what.” Krejčí says of Th e True Adventures of Wolfb oy. In the director’s US-shot debut says, he didn’t want to make an Martell was also challenged to “American movie” just for the sake play a creature with such diff erent rising star actor Jaeden Martell takes on the role of loner teen cursed with congenital of it. What mattered more was the physical limitations to expression hypertrichosis, determined to seek out his missing mother despite long odds. story - “the feeling of loneliness - - such as the powerful scenes in we can all connect with it.” which he communicates more with Aft er Wolfb oy’s budget grew well his eyes than through dialogue. By Veronika Bednářová is like a stigma, he says. “You get phant Man, Wolfb oy “sets the par- beyond the $1-2 million originally “Th at was born out of not being and Will Tizard either big studio movies where adigm and then suddenly turns it envisaged Krejčí admits the pressure able to use my face and my mouth you’re a hired gun - and I kept tell- upside down.” was so tremendous that at times on and my neck the way I wanted to,” Paul has lost hope at fi tting in at ing them that’s not really me - or Martell says the role was no pic- set he “wasn’t very diplomatic.” says the actor. school but he’s determined to get you get just scripts by someone nic. “Every day is three and a half Krejčí confesses he knew from answers, at least. Th e Czech-born who thinks he’s a genius.” In the hours of makeup, or six hours.” Disturbing makeup the start the character would need Krejčí says he was drawn to the Wolfb oy script, by contrast, each Krejčí had two goals, he says: In the four months between to communicate non-verbally so story because it communicates character has their own voice, establishing the style of the fi lm casting and shooting, the studio, he actually made actors wear a ski something universal: loneliness. Krejčí says. “It suddenly sucks you (“Not a fi gure from a horror employing all their best Mar- mask during their audition. Which “I get either such terrible scripts in a little bit.” movie”) and making the wolfb oy vel-worthy techniques, made is why he selected Martell. “His that nobody wants to do them or look “believable and authentic, a complete mockup of Martell to eyes looked like there was some- such weird scripts that nobody Poor Jaeden realistic.” Th e requirement was work from. thing much deeper in them.” • knows how to do them,” says Forging new ground was import- “perfect - not too werewolfy,” he “It did hurt a little bit,” Martell Krejčí. “And that was the case of ant, he adds. “It’s kind of a cliché says. “Th e sweet spot was to make says. He even refused to eat on set The True Adventures of Wolfboy screens Wolfb oy.” - the whole coming of age thing.” him look instinctively cute - but for fear of disturbing the makeup. again tomorrow at 12:30 pm [Small Hall] Being a commercial director But unlike in fi lms such as Ele- not cute like a teddy bear. Still be- “He wouldn’t let anyone know and July 6 at 10 am [Národní dům Cinema].

Dennis Ivanov See you there CEO of Arthouse Traffi c LLC Replay

I have a long-lasting relationship with co-producing, Péter Kerekes’ Censor, “He was a shaman who up to this Karlovy Vary. My surname is Ivanov, or met with Darya Zhuk whose Crystal day is still a legendary guru for mod- which means that in Russia, Ukraine or Swan was showing here – now we are ern-day herbalists,” said Holland. This Belarus I don’t really have a surname – working on a project about Femen. It’s al- is her second ﬁ lm about a doctor, which

one third of these countries is called ways the same – I am coming without Jan Handrejch Photo: prompted some questions about her Ivanov. But once when I came to Karlovy any plans but I always fi nd a good project interest in directing medicine-inspired Vary to my hotel I was immediately taken or someone I want to work with and be fi lms. Ivan Trojan, who plays the main to a wonderful, massive suite. I was think- friends with. I am on the East of the West character and was one of the panellists, ing: “Wow. It’s not just this festival that jury this year but I would really like to see sees it as a universally relatable motif. has become important to me but I have some fi lms from the Liberated section. It Agniezska Holland goes charlatan. “It has the potential to be a mega fi lm,” become important to the festival!” Then just belongs to this culture. • MB he said. of course it turned out it was a mistake When answering the question of because they took me for some Rus- From the Liberated section, It’s Better to More than reality why Charlatan isn’t documentary, as sian oligarch with the same surname of Be Wealthy and Healthy Than Poor and was at one point intended, Holland said: course. And asked me to leave. Ill screens today at 1 pm [Karlovy Vary Yesterday’s debate at the Czech TV production of Charlatan, her upcoming “Nowadays reality is so trendy. To me You really have time to meet people here. Municipal Theatre], while Let’s All Sing house hosted renowned director Ag- fi lm about Jan Mikulášek, a widely pop- the human imagination is much more Two years ago I found a project I am now Around screens at 9:30 am [Small Hall]. niezska Holland who spoke about the ular 20th century Czech doctor. attractive than reality.” • EH july 4, 2019 festival daily

Official selection Official selection

“I knew the hardscrabble relatives lands on her door- farming community of Wa- step she begins developing

Photo: KVIFF Photo: Keeney, Kansas: It’s the type KVIFF Photo: an outlandish relationship of small American town in with it. Believing the body which a shy teenager can live brings her good fortune, she out her life and end up feel- loses her mind completely. ing anonymous,” she says. Shooting bodies Nostalgia Cinematographer Neil Escape doesn’t come Daza said the audience though. Instead, the beau- should be visually engrossed tiful, no-nonsense Maggie and should “smell” the arrives from the big city corpses. and befriends Iris, taking “We wanted to shoot Ode her under her wing and in black and white but we changing her life. Maggie struggled to come up with has her own weight to carry, a good reason. Aft er aban- Maggie and Iris face small town pressures in To the Stars. of course. She’s gorgeous and It’s just another day at the office for Sonya. doning the idea we decided can have anyone she wants to make it colored mono- but she wants a woman, chromatic but in a more and in this time and place tedious process,” he says. Love, adversely and with an extremely strict Dead serious “Th e color of Ode bordered father this has already led between old wood and a de- to beatings, recriminations composing corpse while Martha Stephens brings and their move from Kansas Set in a funeral home in the lighting and composition City to this much smaller was bare, soft and simple, a story of longing and town. Philippines, Ode to Nothing, complementing the rhythm Th e fi lm is no trip down of Ode’s narrative.” learning to ﬁ ght back memory lane. Th e echoes is a story of solitude Aspect ratio was another of nostalgia are provided issue, inspired by the setting. only to be quickly broken “We shot Ode with a square by Michael Stein like all the other girls but all by bullying, intolerance and by Eliška Havlíčková a lot of roles. She takes care frame to simulate a cof- Iris wants is to be herself and self-suppression. Beneath all of the family, her funeral fi n’s glass window,” Daza In a tiny farming town in get away. Martha Stephens’ these forces pushing back She might seem like an business – not to mention says. From his perspective, 1960s Oklahoma Iris is a shy To the Stars shows Iris’ at- against Iris and Maggie ordinary woman living her debts – while grudg- he adds, the production felt girl whose sense of being tempt at dreaming her way a powerful friendship forms a mundane life. Her con- ingly accepting her ‘ag- like “shooting an experimen- diff erent than the other beyond the dusty confi nes of as well as a deep sense of stant loneliness, however, ing-female’ label. In order tal fi lm.” Hard to argue with kids is made all the worse her life. longing. • soon unveils something not to go crazy she seeks that. • by a bowel condition and Stephens was looking darker about Sonya. Ode to companionship anywhere a mother who takes out her back and drawing from her To the Stars premieres tonight at Nothing is a sad yet gentle she can. Ode to Nothing premieres today frustrations on her. She is own knowledge in working 8 pm [Grand Hall] and screens fi lm by the Philippine di- One day a sudden knock at 5 pm [Grand Hall] and screens bullied, mocked and ignored out how to show the world again on July 5 at 1 pm [Pupp rector Gwein Baltazar. on the door turns Son- again July 5 at 10 am [Pupp and occasionally her mother depicted in Shannon Brad- Cinema] and July 6 at 5 pm [Dra- Living with her father, ya’s life around. When the Cinema] and July 6 at 2 pm [Dra- tries to push her into being ley-Colleary’s screenplay. homíra Cinema]. 44-year-old Sonya juggles corpse of a woman with no homíra Cinema].

Stephen Dalton Ben Nicholson Three picks for today Journalist, The Hollywood Reporter On the town Freelance Film Journalist

A deliciously weird experiment in darkly funny retro-horror pastiche, In Fabric is the latest erotically charged, genre-bending oddity from Peter Strickland, the cult director behind Berberian Sound Studio and The Duke of Burgun- dy. Paying homage to Suspiria and vintage 1970 s British

horror, the lurid plot concerns a demonically possessed Ben of Nicholson Archive Photo: dress sold at a gloriously sinister department store.

In Fabric

Directed by: Peter Strickland United Kingdom 2018, 118 min Today at 10:30 pm, Cinema B

Following his acclaimed bio-documentaries Senna and Free as a juvenile red-backed shrike. Amy, the Oscar-winning director turns his attention to Argentina’s mostly notorious sporting anti-hero. Drawing on a vast archive of private footage shot during the football superstar’s explosive career peak at Naples, Kapadia paints Early bird special a rich and colorful portrait, even if the real Maradona still remains an elusive enigma at the end. If big screen dramas are becoming too witnessed him passing on his grisly eating habits Diego Maradona much for you, you could do worse than - you’ll have to google for the details!) taking a break in nature. I’m a keen Th e other locals I always look out for are Directed by: Asif Kapadia bird-watcher and I’ve found an amble up the beautiful lesser kestrels that oft en nest United Kingdom 2019, 130 min the hill to the edge of the Slavkov forest is in buildings in the old town. Th is year I’ve Today at 10 pm, Pupp Cinema a perfect way to start the day and blow the seen them up in the forest, squabbling over cobwebs or hangover away. a perch before settling into an uneasy truce I’ve been coming to Karlovy Vary for a few a few trees apart. years now and I’m always excited to see two If the woods are too far to walk you can resident species of birds - this year has not keep an eye out for swift s, swallows and pied Revenge is a dish best served cold – 60 years later, in disappointed. Red-backed shrikes breed above wagtails swooping over the river or listen fact – in this Czech road movie about two former political the town and I’ve enjoyed watching a father out for chiff chaff s and fi recrests singing prisoners trying to track down and kill the former Commu- showing his son the ropes (fortunately I’ve not from the trees around Th ermal. • nist Party offi cial who ruined their lives. All three men are now old and frail, adding extra autumnal melancholy to this bittersweet comedy thriller.

Old-Timers KviffefeTweet of the day Martin Suchan @martinsuchan Directed by: Martin Dušek, Ondřej Provazník Czech Republic/Slovak Republic 2019, 85 min Today at 7 pm, Národní dům Cinema Just saw exclusive preview screening of #SpidermanFarFromHome at #KVIFF, nice Marvel movie with a little bit of Eurotrip and a super villain in Prague. 2 festival daily july 4, 2019 Feature ﬁlm

all the stories that go with Had I written these scenes of a cabbage being stabbed it. Th ey can transform how as very serious it could be [used to illustrate a violent we feel; we can escape our too self-pitying. Th ere is scene] – that’s an innocent Ph oto: KVIFF Ph oto: problems or maybe be re- something cathartic about sound on its own. We don’t minded of them and our humor. In Fabric is a fi lm associate it with murder, we bodies. How we hate them that divides people and some associate it with the kitch- sometimes. really don’t like it – which is en. Clothing is plumage, isn’t fair enough, I suppose. But it? It’s enough to take one it’s very dangerous trying to It’s funny how in ﬁ lms, red is look at the animal kingdom. second-guess what the au- usually considered almost em- Th ere are all these elements dience wants. Th e only true powering. Not so much here. of attraction but also this thing I can do is to go inside Yeah, it’s not Woman in idea that when you are my head. You are never Red with Kelly LeBrock, selling something it’s a per- going to make a perfect fi lm that’s for sure. It’s a color formance. Of course, I am and the ones I love the most of tragedy, really, of bodi- pushing it in my fi lm but have parts I really dislike as ly fl uids. When you wear it’s almost ritualistic in well. clothing, you get sweat on a sense. that or menstrual blood. You seem to reference them It’s very visceral and very And playful, too, as there is with the soundtrack a bit, just private, sometimes we don’t In Fabric is a film that divides people. something very entertaining like you did on Berberian Sound even want to think about it. about seduction. Studio – about a foley artist It’s very weird because blood I have always been fas- slowly loosing his mind in Italy. coming out of a stab wound cinated by human desire Music, working with is fi ne but sweat is a no-no. although we live in a time bands is a big part of what Some taboos are taboos for that’s quite puritanical. Th ere I do. With this fi lm music a good reason but others is a valid reason for that actually came very early. But need to be explored. • Dress to kill but at the same time fi lm you don’t get good results should still be a safe space if you say to a musician: In Fabric screens today at to explore it. Whether we “Please, make it sound like 10:30 pm [Cinema B]. Watch that dress code - it’s all about a cursed are single or attached we all this or that.” You want it desire. Violence is not that to sound original. In Ber- frock in the British director’s In Fabric interesting as it’s not particu- berian… there was a bit of larly human behavior. Italian exploitation cinema,

a bit of giallo and super- Horník Petr Ph oto: Peter Strickland brings to Another View his bonkers In Fabric, the story You are not afraid of silliness natural horror. I like these of a red dress sold in a department store run by witches, which always in the ﬁ lm. Would you say that fi lms but maybe not for the humor is always important in reasons people think I do. seems to threaten the stability of its owners’ lives. And not just because your stories? I don’t like the violence so of complicated washing instructions. I didn’t set out to make, much – that’s not particular- say, horror comedy. I knew ly pleasant. It’s just this irre- the characters I wanted sistible atmosphere, which by Marta Bałaga ly, as a sock can’t really fl y Th ere is a haunting aspect to take on this journey or is so ethereal and strange, through the air with such to clothing in general. Espe- some ideas I wanted to and poetic. Th at fi lm was Why a dress? grace and that was one of cially dead people’s clothing, explore and it just ended actually more about the cor- Strickland goes full Profondo It couldn’t be a sock, real- the fi rst images in my head. second-hand clothing and up being quite humorous. ruption of sound. Th e sound Rosso. Q & A Top 5

It’s funny, because they played this festival trailer before our fi lm [starring Ph oto: KVIFF Ph oto: Jiří Menzel], a rather old-fashioned take on sexuality, I have to say. And in our story, it’s the woman who desires.

Is that why everybody in your film is a bit awkward? Even the boy she likes, with rather odd methods of se- Lucía Garibaldi and producer Pancho Magnou Arnabal. duction. In her family everyone is so self-involved. I wanted to refl ect the economic Cowgirls don’t cry situation, with everyone Don’t give your audience any bull! Animal in the title, animal in the film. struggling every which way they can. And as for In The Sharks, a teenage that “seduction”… that happens. Aft er I showed Real animals in fi lm girl discovers desire. We’re the fi lm to some people, some girls actually con- gonna need a bigger boat fi rmed that! by Marta Bałaga 2. My Thoughts are Silent 4. Dogs Don’t Wear Pants Th ere are no sharks in and Michael Stein Uruguay, it could never Antonio Lukich’s fi lm is a veritable Focusing on a surgeon descend- by Marta Bałaga and beautiful, and didn’t happen. But it was fun to Truly appalled by the recent ten- zoo as his main character travels ing right into the world of BDSM care about how I’d make her show how the entire com- dency of luring people into cinemas through Ukraine recording animals, where he is nothing more than Rosina, attracted to a boy, look. munity slowly becomes by promising them animals that in some cases covering himself in a dog, and dogs don’t wear pants, uses the reports of a shark paranoid. It happens a lot, do not, we repeat, do not actually absurd-looking camoufl age. The Finnish director J-P Valkeapää infestation to her advantage. You come very close with your actually, with people gos- appear in the fi nished product or best animal scenes of all though luckily found a few minutes to How did you come up with that camera and sometime all teen- siping and rumors spread- at best get a fl eeting cameo (we are still-portraits of owners and spare among all the merry stran- concept? agers want to do is to hide. ing. Rosina is like a shark are looking at you, The Sharks. And their unusual pets shown in front gulation to show an actual poo- I wanted to make a fi lm Being a teenager, for me, too. She acts like an ani- The Bull, A Dog Called Money etc., of their homes. Do people have pet dle…witnessing things no poodle about a way of being, about is all about feeling uncom- mal, led by her instinct. etc.). We decided to dedicate to- foxes in Ukraine? Is that a thing? should ever witness. And for that this character. Th at was the fortable. I wanted to show day’s Top 5 to the real furry deal. we are truly sorry. seed. Teenage girls are like the awkwardness. I came You mentioned her making 3. Our Time ticking bombs that are about up with this story, trying to all the decisions and it’s still 1. The Last Autumn 5. Satantango to explode. She does things put myself into her brain. rather unusual to see that in Carlos Reygadas surely knows that are not exactly com- Every time I was thinking fi lm. Especially a young girl. Yrsa Roca Fannberg’s doc might how to deliver four-legged glory If we’re writing about our cute mendable, but you still em- about making a decision, Very oft en people revolve around the last herding, not by setting his newest on a Mex- and cuddly friends then we pathize with her, I hope. She I was thinking about her. would ask me: “Why to mention include the best tail-wag- ican ranch positively swarming couldn’t possibly leave out Béla is a loner, doesn’t fi t in. Th at She kidnaps the dog of the doesn’t she cry?” But we gling we have seen in a week, but with bulls and other critters that Tarr’s seven-and-a-half-hour happened to me too when boy she likes but still re- all hide our feelings, so it has nothing to do with Gene provide a perfect background opus, a work synonymous with I was at that age. We found members to feed her every why can’t she do it as Wilder’s infatuation in Everything to a ménage à trois gone wrong. those two words. Because Romina Bentancur two day. She is always making well?! I didn’t want her to You Always Wanted to Know About A rather odd beast, it also includes there’s a scene of a little girl walk- years before we shot the fi lm the wrong choice; she is at- break down, I wanted her Sex* But Were Afraid to Ask. Most a line we can’t possibly disprove: ing with her cat. It’s just that the and she was very similar to tracted by evil a little. Th ere strong. Nobody expects distasteful, in view of the fact that the “Horses aren’t stoners”. Everyone cat is… uh…oh, well, you should what I imagined: so strange is something beautiful in it. cowboys to cry. • sheep was under 18 years old. knows they are more into crack. see it for yourself. • 3 july 4, 2019 festival daily Fright night movies

himself in a cabin aft er a bloody massacre. He’s cov- ered in blood and gets Ph oto: KVIFF Ph oto: a friend on the phone to go through all the horror-genre particulars to help him out of his dilemma. What they fi nd is not what either of them expected. Pop culture classics Th e section is rounded out by some truly groundbreak- ing, fan-favorite classics. Ridley Scott’s Alien is 40 years old and just as terri- fying as ever, its infl uence on the sci-fi genre no less profound than when it fi rst came out. John Car- penter’s Th e Fog, a story of age-old vengeance in a small coastal California town, is considered by many of his afi cionados to be his most visually impressive work. It’s the 20th anniversary of the appearance of Lilly and Lana Wachowski’s Matrix on the scene, a work whose cyberpunk aesthetic spread The Lodge is a work of horror that blends the best of genre and art house film. beyond the bounds of fi lm and throughout pop culture. Rambo: First Blood gave of Spanish cinema acting in birth to a muscle-bound the fi lm. icon of Americana in its Horror comedy has been sequels but the original done to death, so to speak, fi lm was a gripping thriller Fresh Blood and originality is hard to about a Vietnam vet bring- come by. Th at’s why You ing the war back home. On Might Be the Killer directed top of that this American An annual favorite, this year’s Midnight Screenings category by Brett Simons with its classic was directed by Ted meta approach has brought Kotcheff , a Canadian son of brings together new terror and genre classics some fresh blood to the Bulgarian immigrants who genre. A camp counselor had considerable success Divorce and remarriage, especially with children involved, is always diffi cult, sometimes horrifi c. played by Fran Kranz locks working in Britain. • In Th e Lodge by Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz the usual emotional turbulence and legal battles are taken to sinister and unexpected extremes as an isolated winter cabin, a suicide cult Ph oto: KVIFF Ph oto: and a twist or two get thrown into the mix. by Micheal Stein and art house fi lm with little the taboos genre fi lms address. David Torras and Gerard regard for convention, some- Maybe that’s why we mix it. Quinto, 7 Reasons to Run What makes the fi lm so thing co-director Veronika It’s not on purpose but maybe Away (From Society), seven unique and hard to categorize Franz says comes naturally to it’s that we make the fi lms we’d wildly varying stories all aim - is it horror, family drama, the fi lmmaking pair. like to see.” to show the horrifi c, oft en a supernatural story, psycho- “We like art house fi lms and brutally funny degradation logical suspense? - is the way we like how these fi lms’ stories No hope for people of human existence. Sergi it bounces back and forth are told,” she says. “We like the In the latest fi lm directed López and Emma Suárez A ghostly invasion terrorizes a seaside town in John between the tropes of genre suspense of genre fi lms and by the trio of Esteve Soler, are two of the many greats Carpenter’s The Fog.

Faces Industry events

ceive the Crystal Globe for Out- An international jury con- standing Artistic Contribution to sisting of Khalil Benkirane World Cinema. Directors Olga from Qatar, Aija Berzina Ph oto: KVIFF Ph oto: Sommerová and Jiří Suchý, from Latvia and Virginie also a highly-respected actor on Devesa from France decided the Czech scene, will introduce to honor the Russian-Mol- the biography Jiří Suchý- Tack- dovan Pigeon’s Milk by ling Life with Ease. Eugen Maryan. Th e award, with a value of 100,000 €, combines post-production services from partner com- Patricia Clarkson panies UPP (60,000 €) and Soundsquare (30,000 €) and The Special Events section Pigeon’s Milk brings home a 100 000 EUR award. 10,000 € in cash provided by greets American actress Pa- Barrandov Studios. tricia Clarkson, who arrives Th e winner of the Works to represent the screening of in Development – Feature Learning to Drive. During the Winners announced: Launch award was chosen closing ceremony, the actress from among eight projects will walk the red carpet to re- that were part of the Feature Works in Progress, Works Launch 2019 program. Th e jury made up of KVIFF Radim Špaček Industry Offi ce head Hugo in Development Rosák, Danijel Hocevar (Slo- The Czech Films section pres- venia) and Katriel Schory ents director Radim Špaček, (Israel) decided to award the screening his ﬁ lm Golden Sting. KVIFF Eastern Promises, (Bottled Songs), the winners announced. prize, along with 10,000 € The Prague Short Film Festival a sidebar dedicated to fi lm of the other two platforms Nine projects from Cen- towards further develop- Presents section welcomes professionals, fi nally knows supporting emerging fi lms tral and Eastern Europe, the ment, to the Hungarian proj- Norwegian director Kerren the winners of all its four by talents from Eastern Eu- Balkans, the former USSR, ect by director Dániel Hevér, Lumer-Klabbers, arriving to categories. Aft er Docs in rope, Works in Progress and the Middle East and north writer Zsanett Kertész and introduce her ﬁ lm A Stone Slowly Progress (Th e Silhouettes) and Works in Development – Africa were presented at producer Lászlo Dreissiger. • Olga Sommerová Falls. • EH the Eurimages Lab Project Feature Launch, have been this year’s Works in Progress. FŠ 4