SPECIAL EDITION OF

KVIFF’s MAIN MEDIA PARTNER 5

5/7 2016 FREE

INSIDE Official Selection: By the Rails, Waves English Section, page 2 Another View: The Lure, Tramontane English Section, page 3 KVIFF honors Charlie Kaufman and Jean Reno English Section, page 4 Photo: Milan Malíček

Felix van Groeningen: ‘The bohemian ideal, I guess, of “Fuck the world. We’ll do it by ourselves and make our own rules, and we’re different and we’re free”– yeah, I guess that was there.’ FROM BOHEMIAN SUPERMAN TO BELGICA OSCAR-NOMINATED DIRECTOR ON HIS NEW FILM AND HIS OWN ‘BROKEN’ CIRCLES

Brian Kenety Charlatan when I was 12, and then my dad frail like me, I guess, and had a big belly I didn’t turn out to be so good at it... So, scale... It’s called Beautiful Boy. It’s based sold it when I was 23, to two brothers who – and he was bald (laughs). He also wore I thought, okay, I’ll just become the boss partly on a writer’s memoir about his re- Belgian director Felix van Groeningen had to start over, and the movie is like rings... So he was a strange man but just (laughs). It’s very strange how one thing lationship with his son who’s a crystal won a special mention at Cannes for The a strange mix of their story and the period really nice. He did it because of his love of led to another. My mother was working in meth addict. Misfortunates (2009), was Oscar-nomi- when my father had that bar. So it’s not people and because he loved music and film and TV, and I visited her on the sets nated for The Broken Circle Breakdown like my father is one of the brothers in hanging out. But the thing The Charlatan and really loved also the technical side of Both and Belgica (2014), which won a Lux Prize, and was Belgica, but the atmosphere between the became was not what he really wanted. He it, sitting in the control where they mix TV feature this difficult dynamic between nominated for a KVIFF audience award, people – the bohemian ideal, I guess, of got swept away by the success. live. I used to sit there all day. I was brothers. Did you have such crazy rela- and won best director at Sundance for ‘Fuck the world. We’ll do it by ourselves amazed by it. I started making little films tionships or just find them fascinating? Belgica, a music-driven drama with and make our own rules, and we’re differ- Is Ghent a character in your film? or directing at school little plays when I do find it fascinating. I have a great a punk-rock ethos, loosely based on his ent and we’re free’– yeah, I guess that was Ghent has a vibrant scene. You know, I was 10... family – we’re very tight, but also in dad’s café-turned-nightclub in Ghent. there. And the strange thing is that hap- it’s a strange city. It became for Belgica a sense a little bit broken. My parents split He’s developing an adaptation of pened again when my father sold it to a character, although the accent of the What changed for you after the suc- when I was quite young... The idea of nev- Beautiful Boy, based on a father’s story those two brothers. main characters, the dialect, is West cess of Broken Circle? er finding that home, I guess, is something about his son’s drug addiction, for New Flanders. So in that sense, it’s not really What has changed? Well, when you’re I don’t suffer from, really, but it’s why Regency and Brad Pitt’s Plan B They went through the same process? Ghent. But what is Ghent? It’s a strange Oscar-nominated, you meet an incredible those kinds of strange families also fasci- Entertainment. He’s back at KVIFF to de- Yeah... Whenever something becomes mix of people coming together, I guess, amount of people and get an incredible nate me. And my father died when I was liver a masterclass within the intensive more serious – and especially in nightlife for me, and that’s what Belgica is. number of offers – which is amazing, but making my first feature, 15 years ago. But filmmaking program Future Frames. with alcohol and drugs – it’s just so hard you have to stay true to what you want to I love the people I’ve met and what I’ve not to cross the line and to lose yourself... When did you know you wanted to be do. I have to really fall incredibly in love been through because of that broken fam- How old were you when your father a film director? with a project before I’ll spend three years ily, that my dad had that bar and I was ran The Charlatan club? And were So was your dad a cool guy? Did that When I was a kid, I wanted to be an ac- working on it. So, in a sense, a lot could working there alone, living alone or with your parents also artists, or musicians make it hard to have a classic teenage tor. I loved the idea of playing the fool, but have changed, but hasn’t. We’ll see what my brother, at a young age. They were all – bohemian types? rebellion? always within my family circle. Once the future brings. I’m developing a U.S. interesting phases, and I don’t regret any Yeah, they were (laughs) – but not like He was cool, yeah (laughs). Not in a su- I had to do it for other people, I became project because of Broken Circle... and if of it. But there’s something I miss – the in the movie. The café became the perman sort of way or something. He was quite shy. I went to theatre courses, but it happens, it’ll be on a much larger idea of that ideal family. I miss that. z SEE YOU THERE EXPLAINER

SENIOR PROGRAMMER THE THERMAL – A VERY CONCRETE STATEMENT KIM YUTANI SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL Dominating any aerial view of so designed the hexagon-tastic I think Polish actor Michalina I, Olga Hepnarova screens today at KV, the Hotel Thermal’s mono- Kotva department store in Olszańska is a really interesting new tal- 7:30pm (Lázně III Cinema) and July 8 at lithic concrete slabs and bewil- Prague. Whether you love or ent. She’s the lead actress in both the 5pm (Cinema B). The Lure shows July 6 at dering entrances make this hate the style, Věra and Vladimír Czech film I, Olga Hepnarova (dir: 1pm (Congress Hall) and July 8 at 2pm a fairly specific kind of architec- were masters of it. They’re on Tomáš Weinreb), where she plays a young (Cinema B). The Chickening screens today tural experience. It’s wrong to a par with the other famous sociopathic murderer, and also in The at 1pm (Národní dům Cinema) and July 8 dismiss this as a communist Brutalist couple, Alison and Lure (dir: Agnieszka Smoczyńska) – at 12:30pm (Čas Cinema) z monstrosity though. Peter Smithson, who coined the a vampire mermaid musical that won New Brutalism (as this style is term in England in 1953. Sundance’s Special Jury Prize. She’s ex- endearingly named) was not It’s their interiors that really cellent in both films. a communist movement, as ex- set the Czech pair apart. Like Le Also, I always recommend that people amples like London’s Barbican Photo: Petr Hloušek Corbusier, they designed every- at festivals see short films and documen- Centre demonstrate. Brutalism thing, from the foundations to taries, and something you didn’t plan or is a reference to the word ‘brut’, as in Le Corbusier’s pen- the light fittings. Strolling on the Thermal’s pebble dashed expect to see. In the Prague Short Film chant for “beton brut” (raw concrete), though many find the walkways, one can still see most of the original design. Festival Presents sidebar is a great film effect of thousands of unadorned tons of the stuff a little As KVIFF’s artistic director Karel Och once said, “It’s like called The Chickening (dir: Davy Force), brutal. a museum.” Unfortunately, it’s a bit frowzy, with ragged retro- a remix of The Shining that’s absolutely The Thermal’s renowned architects, Věra Machoninová fitting cluttering the clean lines. But with imagination (or bonkers and artistically quite out there. and her husband Vladimír, were also not kosher comrades, a multi-million koruna restoration job) we’d see a very dif- I also think short film programs are a great if his excommunication and subsequent work ban are any- ferent Thermal. We’d see, as 1960s KVIFF artistic director place to discover new talent. (BK) thing to go by. Before they fell out with the Party, they al- Ladislav Pospíšil said in his memoir, “a palace.” (CLC) z strana 2 / page 2 FESTIVAL DAILY Tuesday, July 5, 2016

OFFICIAL SELECTION OFFICIAL SELECTION BY THE RAILS – A LONG NIGHT’S WAVES – FEATURE DEBUT JOURNEY BACK TO INTIMACY CASTS SCRIPT ‘TO THE WINDS’ Photo: Archiv Grzegorz Zariczny Photo: KVIFF Cătălin Mitulescu’s third feature unfolds subtle cues, building tension Grzegorz Zariczny’s short doc The Whistle won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance

By Hana Gomoláková By the Rails, Cătălin pecially the intimate ones. We By Hana Gomoláková You bring us close to the lapse of communism; people who Mitulescu’s third feature, un- tried to keep the distance alive characters through their daily have been unable to find their feet It’s summer in sunny Italy, and folds nearly in real time and is till the end, building up the inti- You chose to work with non- routine. How did you set up the under capitalism. They preferred the tourist season is about to start strongest in its silent moments, macy as much as possible,” actors. Why this decision and story? welfare to personal development. for the restaurant where Adrian heavy with unspoken words. As Mitulescu says. was it harder than working with We did everything we could to And from there, it’s a short step to (Alexandru Potocean) works as so often in life, this is where the Romanians leaving for work professional actors? film chronologically, following the alcoholism. The children of those a waiter. Nervous as to why his truth is uncovered, and the direc- abroad was also a theme of the In 2015, I made a short [docu- screenplay, but after 10 days of people have suffered the conse- wife back in Romania isn’t an- tor keeps us on our toes so as not prison drama When I Want to mentary], Love, Love, where shooting, I had to cast it to the quences. The saddest thing of all swering his calls, he decides to to miss another cue. Whistle, I Whistle, a film he co- I showed the world of Kasia and winds. Ania and Kasia’s interior is that those children aren’t to return home to her and their tod- “There is a lot of tension, a lot wrote and produced that won the Ania, two girls entering adult- truth was so vast and so very dif- blame for their fate. When I made dler son, after a year abroad. of emotion when a couple gets Silver Bear at the Berlinale in hood with the desire to become ferent from what I’d written that the film, I wanted to turn people’s Arriving in his village by bus back together after a long period 2010. Many Romanians leave for professional hairdressers, from I decided to be courageous enough attention to them. Those children at night, his wife Monica (Ada of distance. Every gesture, every Italy never to return “back to the lower strata of society. I won- to give them a wider influence on are now entering adulthood. Condeescu) greets him at the sta- second is important. I started to their country or to their lan- dered what would have to happen the film. Ania’s level of engage- tion in a revealing dress – a sharp write the film imagining that guage,” he says. “I don’t know if for their social status to improve. ment was so intense that we only KVIFF programmers say contrast to her stand-offish atti- night when he comes back to this is good or bad but for me it’s That’s how Waves began. I want- needed one take of the final shot. your film reminds them of the tude. From that moment on, her,” he says. “The time is pass- full of mixed, strong emotions ed to call attention to all the That’s how much pain it cost her. authentic filmmaking of the there is a subtle dance between ing and by minutes and hours and it’s natural to have this in many young girls facing the same She drew on her own experiences. Czechoslovak New Wave. Were them of hidden emotions, unspo- they start to feel the desire to be some of my stories.” problem. you inspired by those films? ken regrets, and a search for for- lovers again, and family, but it The film’s title provokes the Ania and Kasia drew on their One subliminal theme is the That came as a pleasant sur- giveness. seems so impossible. I wanted to question of whether the rails are own experiences when we were emotional absence of alcoholic prise. I’ve collaborated with With the tension between do a film about that.” meant to provide an escape route filming particular scenes. In emo- parents and the way it affects Weronika Bilska from the outset. Adrian and Monica building, The film bets almost every- for the young pair. “Could be, tional terms, it was extremely dif- their children. Together, we’re searching for our they try to find a way back to thing on the performance of the but for me it is something more,” ficult for them. But they knew The problem isn’t overly exten- own original ‘language’ of cine- each other over the course of two leads and their chemistry. Mitulescu says. “I like rails, and that it was the only way of show- sive, but it does exist. And, given matic storytelling, which we’d a long night, while the whole vil- There are a lot of emotional when the train is passing I have ing their world authentically and that the right wing has come to like to develop... Nonetheless, my lage celebrates a wedding – pro- highs and lows, almost like on the strongest feeling of time truthfully. Professional actors are power in Poland, it’s a crucial one. favorite Czechoslovak New Wave viding the director’s comment on a roller-coaster. “We talked moving on. I wanted to have this armed with technical skills. And The right was victorious thanks to film is [Miloš Forman’s] Loves of the social background and values about the story, but generally we close to my characters, to the those skills often shield them the votes of people who’ve been a Blonde. In fact, it’s also one of in Romania. did not rehearse the scenes, es- story.” z from engaging emotionally. of interest to no one since the col- my all-time favorites. z

FACES CERISE HOWARD, CRITIC’S CHOICE CRITIC & FESTIVAL DIRECTOR, SENSES OF CINEMA & CASFFA

An already good year for Czech THE NOONDAY WITCH cinema has been enlivened to no Director: Jiří Sádek end by director Jiří Sádek’s im- pressive feature debut. A pastoral Czech Republic, 2016, 90min horror film full of glorious sun- July 4, 4pm, Pupp Cinema kissed cinematography, in which the drama is nonetheless princi- pally interior, The Noonday a cautionary fable of similar Babadook (for Essie Davis, just Witch draws on Karel Jaromír themes, atmospherics, and inten- substitute Anna Geislerová, and Erben’s macabre folkloric ballad sity to Jennifer Kent’s superb re- for the Babadook, the great of the same name to produce cent Australian horror, The Daniela Kolářová). Keith Maitland Michał Marczak Alice Nellis

Alejandra Márquez Abella’s fic- SEMANA SANTA tion feature debut impressed in its Director: Alejandra Márquez Abella European premiere earlier this year, landing a well-deserved spe- Mexico, 2015, 87min cial jury award at the Fribourg July 4, 7:30pm, Husovka Theatre International Film Festival in Switzerland. An observational drama set at a Mexican holiday re- and sustained, scrutiny, Semana ters midway through, emerge or- sort in which the nuclear family Santa is an understated treat ganically, yet still surprise. The ideal comes under gentle and hu- whose narrative shifts, which sidebar A Female Take on Mexico morous, but nonetheless probing gamely disperse the main charac- is also well worth a gander.

Damjan Kozole Žiga Virc Cláudia Varejão Otakar Vávra’s charming 1966 ROMANCE FOR THE BUGLE Among the new arrivals on the main competition tomorrow; their Maitland with Tower, and film demonstrates that it was not Director: Otakar Vávra fifth day of KVIFF is the award- countryman, director Žiga Virc, is Cláudia Varejão with Ama-San. just the student body at Prague’s winning Italian actor Valerio leading the delegation presenting Czech directors Alice Nellis and storied FAMU that was cat- Czechoslovakia, 1966, 86min Mastandrea, who stars in two Houston, We Have a Problem in Ivan Zachariáš, the latter already alyzed in the ’60s towards col- July 4 films presented in the Horizons the East of the West section. present at the festival, will present laborative production of an ex- section: Don’t Be Bad and Sweet Michał Marczak is bringing the the new HBO Series Wasteland, traordinary run of poetic films Dreams. Slovenian director doc competition film All These while Thai helmer-scribe Kongdej far removed from the stifling re- ly in a summer holiday flash- just as easily have been the work Damjan Kozole and actress Pia Sleepless Nights, followed by Jaturanrasmee’s Snap was se- strictions of Socialist Realism, back and blessed with superb of any of Vávra’s celebrated stu- Zemljič are bringing Nightlife, Rozálie Kohoutová and Tomáš lected to screen at the festival by but also its faculty. This classic black-and-white cinematogra- dents. Screening on 35mm and screening in the Official Selection Bojar with FC Roma, Keith the Variety critics. (HG) z coming-of-age tale, told wistful- phy from Andrej Barla, could presented by Jan Hřebejk. z

Write to us at [email protected]. (Also visit our social media sites: facebook.com/KVIFF, Twitter via @kviffest (in English). Tuesday, July 5, 2016 FESTIVAL DAILY strana 3 / page 3 ANOTHER VIEW: A KALEIDOSCOPE OF NEW VISIONS Photo: KVIFF Photo: KVIFF

Boulghourjian’s debut feature Tramontane premiered in the Critics’ Week at Cannes Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s story of mermaid sisters in Poland won a special jury award at Sundance

Michael Stein Would this help? How? These and simi- Poland in the late ’80s was awarded Dounia, the girl in the hood who wants and giving birth to Lost and Beautiful. lar questions gave rise to the themes pres- a special jury award for unique vision and more from life. The distinct visual effect arises from In his feature debut that screened at ent in the film. In reality this can be re- design at Sundance. The two otherworld- In Chinese director Gan Bi's debut filming with expired 16mm stock, invok- Cannes Critics’ Week, Tramontane, lated to any crisis in any nation in the ly sisters are played by Marta Mazurek Kaili Blues a doctor, Chen, tries to re- ing an aged look, the atmosphere further Lebanese director Vatche Boulghourjian world where individuals experience trau- and Michalina Olszańska, both of whom dress the errors of the past by searching developed by a score that blends original presented the story of a young, blind mu- ma. Collective experience is made up of played in the recent Czech feature I, Olga out his irresponsible brother's abandoned work by Marco Messina and Sacha Ricci sician who is prevented from getting many individual stories; Tramontane is Hepnarová, which is screening at KVIFF son. The film's highly atmospheric visu- with compositions by Vivaldi and a passport to travel to Europe to sing with only one story." in the Czech Films section, with als fit nicely with its elegiac, dreamlike Donizetti. his chorus. This simple practicality starts Emerging talent is the order of the day, Olszańska in the lead role. mood; a truly masterful sequence is a sin- Marcello's feature debut The Mouth of him on a journey into his country's past with a slew of award-winning debuts fill- From two sisters in a mythical under- gle shot held more than 40 minutes that the Wolf was shown in the documentary and the truth of his own identity. ing out Another View, a section showing water world to two women navigating follows Chen in a town where the mix of competition at KVIFF in 2010 and he re- For Boulghourjian the issues brought there is ample possibility for daring and life in the desert, another feature debut by old China and the construction projects turned two years later with his original up by the film are both Lebanese and uni- innovation in world cinema today. From Israeli Elite Zexer is Sand Storm, winner replacing it is a constant symbolic re- portrait of Armenian director Artavazd versal ones: "The war in Lebanon (1975- China to Turkey to Chile to Finland and of this year's world cinema grand jury minder of what's taking place in his own Peleshyan The Silence of Peleshyan. Lost 1990) left an enduring wound on the con- beyond, first-time directors are expand- prize at Sundance. It portrays a Bedouin life. Gan Bi won the emerging director and Beautiful represented Italy at sciousness of the generation(s) that ing cinematic horizons and the 24 films mother and daughter struggling within prize at the Locarno in 2015. Locarno last year and won the Ingmar experienced it. How does one live with screening share a boldness of vision and the harsh confines of highly traditional Italian director Petro Marcello set out Bergman award at the 2016 Goteborg such a wound? How does one learn to notable originality that has been widely male-dominated society. to make a documentary about a farmer fest. live among the physical ruins and the recognized. Another pair of women tread a more named Tommasso Cestrone who had re- Premieres this week include the inno- spiritual damage that persist in the after- This is nowhere more evident than in reckless path in French director Houda stored a Bourbon palace in the face of vative fictional documentary Lantouri by math of a war? One may begin to seek another debut feature, The Lure, by Benyamina's debut feature Divines. multiple obstacles. Everything changed Iranian director Reza Dormishian, understanding by trying to search for Polish director Agnieszka Smoczyńska, Winner of this year's feature film Camera when Cestrone died suddenly of a heart Belgian director Wim Vandekeybus's what exactly happened, trying to con- in which fairy-tale, musical, horror and d’Or at Cannes, it follows two French attack during filming – but rather than highly stylized debut of twins separated struct an accurate image or a narrative of a bit of communist retro nostalgia are all girls diving headlong into a life of crime. give up on the project, Marcello pushed at birth Galloping Mind and award-win- incidents, trying, as it were, to clearly see tossed into the proverbial blender to cre- The buddy pic is packed with energy and ahead, transforming his film into the ning Belgian director Bouli Lanners’ tale the chain of events that take place in the ate a feast for the senses. The story of two invention, and benefits in particular from realm of the fantastic by adding of a couple of petty thieves on the run in fog of war with the benefit of hindsight. mermaid sisters who come ashore in the performance of Oulaya Amamra as Pulcinella from the commedia dell'arte The First, the Last. z

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By Will Tizard It didn’t work out for over a decade. that these are real people but I’m lying I couldn’t figure out how to get in, then about them. That’s why I made Susan Oscar-winner Charlie Kaufman would I heard that it’s easer to get into television. Orlean (the writer for The New Yorker in never have finished anything had it not There’s a process where you write a spec Adaptation) so over-the-top: a murderer, been for producers harassing him to get sitcom, then you get an agent. I didn’t a drug addict. Because it’s not true, it’s their money’s worth. So says the soft-spo- want to do TV, but I figured as a last ditch clearly not true, and I’m telling you it’s ken scribe of some of the most wondrous- attempt I would try that. And I got TV not true. ly weird and distinctive films of our time, work so I was lucky. from Being John Malkovich (1999) and Do you approach these people and Adaptation (2002) to Eternal Sunshine of You worked on Chris Elliott’s Get say, ‘Tell me you’re on board on this?’ the Spotless Mind (2004) and Synecdoche, a Life, then also The Dana Carvey Show. I didn’t know Malkovich. I didn’t ask New York (2008) – his directorial debut. Was your bent always towards comedy, his permission. Kaufman, who is here to screen the sur- or did it just work out that way? real, animated love story Anomalisa No, comedy. I was always interested in What was the biggest challenge in (2015) and be honored with the KVIFF comedy. writing Adaptation? President’s Award, spoke to a packed I set about doing something I didn’t room yesterday at the Thermal, covering You worked with talented writers in know how to do and I was really panicked his work habits, career trajectory, profes- between: Stephen Colbert, Louis CK, about the time it was taking me. I didn’t sional challenges and strategies for navi- , Robert Smigel... want to make up a bullshit story about real gating the minefield that is Hollywood. I enjoyed getting paid to be a writer. people. There’s no story in the book A selection of his answers to an hour of I couldn’t believe that was actually hap- (Orlean’s The Orchid Thief) and there’s no thorough grilling by The Hollywood pening. The job I had before was answer- drama. It’s about flowers. So once I fig- Reporter’s Scott Feinberg: ing phones at an art museum in ured out a way to comment on doing that Minneapolis. For minimum wage. It gave and not make it the real thing I was doing, So your career began with acting? me confidence because I didn’t have any. the biggest challenge was I couldn’t tell Yeah. Third grade. And over time I was able to be more con- anybody I was doing it. I was really afraid

fident in a room and talk to people and Photo: Petr Hloušek I could hurt myself professionally. I want- When did you realize that you’re pitch jokes. When I first started, I couldn’t Charlie Kaufman enjoys getting paid to write. At a desk ed (the producers) to read it cold as op- a talented writer? talk to people. I literally didn’t say any- posed to knowing going in what it was. I haven’t realized that yet. No, seriously. thing for six weeks. I was afraid I was go- in my house. My process is to go out every ing that’ll change everything. I don’t like I made movies as a kid, I did theatre, ing to be fired. day to a coffee shop. to feel I’m bound to something that’s pre- Is it also frightening to know there’s I went to film school, learned acting. conceived. It takes me a long time to a certain event in the script where you I wrote plays and I did standup and stuff Where do ideas tend to come to you? Do you write outlines? Do you like to write because of that, but it’s the way may lose some of the audience? like that. I went to film school with a guy I walk a lot. I walk every day and carry know where your story or your script is I prefer to write. No. I don’t care about that. I don’t think named Chris Columbus. He sold a screen- a notebook with me and jot down things. going before you start it? about audiences. I really, truly don’t. play while in school, then he sold a movie I prefer not to. When you’re starting Was it purely coincidence that three I think about me. I’m the audience. Is this called Gremlins, so I heard and learned Where do you actually write? out, if you’re writing an outline before of your early scripts, Malkovich, something that I want to see in a movie? that the way to get into directing was to be I write at a desk. you’ve thought about this thing, you’re Adaptation... all were about real people Is this something I think is cool? a screenwriter first. So I figured that kind of committing yourself to some- in fictional situations? Something I think is funny or sad? would be my ultimate goal – to write and I imagine. But where is that desk? thing you don’t yet know. Always I’ll It’s not conscious. The important thing Otherwise, you’re kind of doing this tap direct. That desk is in an office. That office is come upon something a month into writ- to me about all those films is to make clear dance for people. Why bother? z DOCU TALENTS FROM THE EAST KVIFF PRESIDENT’S EVENTS AWARD FOR JEAN RENO By Hana Gomoláková About Poland, a cross-genre project blending opera and doc contem- North African-born action Six Czech films in development The 12th edition of Docu Talents, plates what is contemporary Poland. film star Jean Reno, current- will present their projects to the in- Photo: KVIFF the annual presentation of 12 fea- But apart from these established ly shooting an adventure dustry audience during Pitch & ture-length documentary films from filmmakers, the presentation also movie in the Czech Republic Feedback at the Industry Pool from Central and Eastern Europe in pro- draws attention to emerging talent. about which he can reveal 10am–1pm. After a 10-minute pitch duction or post-production takes Slovak filmmaker and photographer few details, is at KVIFF to be to invited guests and audience, film place today at 2pm at the Congress Lucia Nimcová’s feature debut honored with the President’s experts will directly give the present- Hall of Hotel Thermal. A Tall Tale searches for hidden Award and to present Léon: ing teams feedback on their projects The projects are selected together Ukrainian reality in folk songs. “In The Professional (1994). and presentations. At the Congress with the Jihlava International Slovakia, photography is on the He spoke to journalists Hall at 2pm, 12 feature-length docu- Documentary Film Festival (JIDFF) rise, showing a lot of talent. Last Monday at the Hotel mentary films in the post-production

with a focus on cinematic films in- year, we presented Martin Kollar’s Thermal, professing his love Photo: Petr Hloušek stage will be presented during Docu tended for the festival circuit pre- film 5 October, which is screening for filming in the land of Jean Reno Talents from the East. The panel is miering between August 2016 and in the KVIFF Imagina section.” “beautiful women” and co-organized with the Jihlava IDFF. July 2017. There were over 80 ap- JIDFF’s Marek Hovorka Another Slovak talent is Pavol “great food.” With well over a big Chinese production At 6pm, the Industry Pool will host plications this year and the 12 se- Pekarčík with Long Day - a docu- 60 film credits as an actor, with big Chinese stars. It is Peter Federbush, International lected projects all display innovative a fiction film, Tverdovskiy studied mentary on hearing-impaired chil- Reno says a performer must an action movie.” Director of the Sundance Institute’s and creative storytelling as well as documentary film and is returning to dren. “The young filmmaker proved remember that movie mak- He reflected on The Big Feature Film Program, who will in- a compelling visual style. the genre. “Personally, I think it’s his talent as a director next to Petr ing “is work” and is dismis- Blue (1988), his first major troduce the FFP Lab on a case study The presentation’s aim is also to a hybrid study of what happens on Kerekes and Ivan Ostrochovský sive of the goal of being fa- international hit, as “the first of Lebanese director Vatche draw the attention of “Western” film Russian roads,” Hovorka says. filming Velvet Terrorist, which pre- mous. big action adventure that Boulghourjian’s drama Tramontane, festivals to these upcoming films. “Coincidentally, we will also pres- miered at Berlinale.” The European Film Award I had with Luc Besson.” which premiered in Cannes this year. “Eastern European documentary ent another Russian film about Czech docs will be represented winner reflected on working Reno recalled a year of train- The audience will have a chance to films are not represented enough in a similar phenomenon, Dmitrii by the well-known creative duo with Natalie Portman, then ing in free diving to enable meet Oscar-winning production de- the West. From the 15 slots at the Kalashnikov’s The Roadmovie, Filip Remunda and Vít Klusák with 11, in her feature debut, in him to perform underwater signer and set decorator Allan IDFA competition, there might be, based on YouTube videos. The con- a film whose title clearly indicates which she beat out some scenes at a depth of 33 me- Starski at the Barrandov Villa at for example, two films from Eastern frontation of these two films with its intention to provoke: Pepik the hundreds of others who au- ters while holding his breath 2pm. (HG) z Europe, if we’re lucky,” JIDFF di- the same premise, but different in Czech Goes to Poland in a Quest ditioned for the central role for up to three minutes. rector Marek Hovorka says. To style, is interesting. So I am happy for Love of God. “It loosely fol- in Léon, a spunky girl whose Just from reading the break this pattern, Docu Talents is to prove how variable it is – reality- lows the Czech Dream and Czech family has been murdered script, Reno says, he could looking for variety. based on found footage vs. some- Peace, concluding the trilogy on and who wants to learn the see the scope of Besson’s vi- “We are trying to bring attention thing close to fiction.” Czechness,” Hovorka says. assassin’s trade. sion for the nine-month KVIFF TALKS to the most distinctive films, to show Levan Koguashvili’s Gogita’s After the presentation, one-to-one “She understood very shoot. “It was something that an Eastern European documen- New Life, which follows an ex-con meetings will take place and a soirée quickly that it’s work and not very big...and also a cinema German director and artist AKIZ, nomi- tary is not just a film from the coun- looking for a wife is also one of the has been prepared, giving filmmak- a game,” Reno said. “We’re adventure.” Although the nated twice for the student Oscar is fea- tryside, as many Western festival ers a chance to meet sellers, buyers not playing. She’s a very film is “very strange” be- highlights. Koguashvili, is already turing his debut The Nightmare at the programmers think,” Hovorka says. a well-known filmmaker in Europe, and festival reps. “One of the things smart person. With a big cause it’s based on a death This year, Marek is proud to pres- having screened his films in that filmmakers [from the region] heart. I had a very good time wish of the two central char- KVIFF as part of the Midnight Screenings. ent the new film of Ivan Rotterdam, Toronto and Berlin. still don’t really realize is that the with her.” acters, Reno said, “It He will be screening his short films and I. Tverdovskiy, whose Zoology is Another established filmmaker, Western [industry] is very well con- As for his most recent changed my life because we documentary about making of The screening in the Official whose new film is already anticipat- nected and how important it is to be project, the 67-year-old traveled all around the world Nightmare during the KVIFF Talk with the Competition. Although Zoology is ed, is Piotr Stasik, whose Opera attached to it,” Hovorka says. z Reno will say only, “It is with that movie.” (WT) z audience, 3:30pm, Cinema A. z DAILIES 1 2

1/ Actor Sergi López, actress Emma Suárez, and actor Àlex Monner from the Official Competition film The Next Skin on the KVIFF red carpet

2/ Scriptwriter Petr Jarchovský and director Jan Hřebejk (the team behind Official Competition film The Teacher), and actress Hana Vagnerová unwind Photo: KVIFF Photo: Petr Hloušek

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