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9/7 2014 SPECIAL EDITION OF FREE KVIFF’s MAIN MEDIA PARTNER

INSIDE Today’s Official Selection films English Section, page 2

Franco Nero says Django may ride again English Section, page 3

Ben Rivers – master of a “very fertile area’ English Section, page 4

Tomorrow’s program Czech Section, pages 7-10

Photo: Milan Malíček William Friedkin says he’s fallen foul of a changing zeitgeist. NO SUCH THING AS CLOSURE LOWDOWN Taking lunch, as every Hollywood mogul WILLIAM FRIEDKIN ON WHY HE DOESN’T HAVE TO EXPLAIN ANYTHING knows, is a term signifying an important sit-down meeting over a movie project, Will Tizard I don’t think in those terms. I don’t I made two films with Tommy Lee terests that are not based on the things major casting decision, writer deal...and look at the box office. I know that The Jones because both characters were that influenced me. And the heads of the concept is surely spreading to the Kateřina Kadlecová Exorcist and The French Connection similar. But I don’t look to make films studios don’t last forever. All of the Czech Republic. are huge; I don’t know the numbers. with the same actors. I really don’t. studio heads that I worked with were After all, what better way to reach a cre- William Friedkin has been charac- I don’t pay attention. I only look at I love all the actors I’ve worked with either fired or they’re dead. And ative conclusion to a vexing business terized by Hollywood chroniclers as a film that I like or that I don’t like – in Killer Joe and Bug and in The there’s new people running the studios dilemma than a three-martini pow-wow ac- the most notorious of the generation of that’s all. Exorcist but I’ve never made another – who do not have the experience of companied by a tender filet mignon? rebels who set the tone after big-bud- So you never perceived Sorcerer as I did a play on Broadway with Max filmmakers. Preferably in an insider-only hangout such get studio productions collapsed in the a failure? von Sydow but we’ve never made an- When did Hollywood go so corpo- as Musso & Frank’s, where, as Steve Golin late 1960s, ushering in raw, new cine- I don’t think of it as a failure. And other film. rate by your estimation? confessed this week, the casting of John ma with European influences, anti-he- it’s now reopening all over the world You worked with Pulitzer winner Some of the people who ran studios Malkovich in Being John Malkovich was roes and previously taboo subjects: – a 37-year-old film is playing around Tracy Letts on Bug and Killer Joe in the ‘70s and before were producers sealed (John himself happened to walk in addiction, corruption, explicit sex. the world in first-run theaters. And but you didn’t end up doing his hit and that’s not true anymore. They by chance at an opportune moment, which Friedkin won five Oscars for The now there are special shows as there August: Osage County. mostly are former agents or lawyers. was taken by the filmmakers as a sign from French Connection in 1971, then was in Venice, Istanbul...and all over I wasn’t interested in that – not as But because the zeitgeist has changed God.) went on to redefine terror in cinemas America in special screenings. And a film. But I did another one of his so much, all the films are different. William Friedkin, ever pragmatic, is just with The Exorcist in 1973. His subse- then it opens in commercial theaters. plays in a theater in Los Angeles. He’s Eighty percent or more of the films as satisfied with a good ham sandwich. quent remake of The Wages of Fear, And already the Blu-Ray is out. And only written five plays. I’ve done three made in the US are about superheroes. Feeling a bit peckish as journalists await- the 1977 film Sorcerer, was left in the then I made a DVD after the Blu-Ray, of them – two on film and one on the I have no interest in making those. ed him for his Festival Daily interview, he dust by Star Wars, after two years of which will be out in America on stage: Man from Nebraska. That was not true when I was making asked his lovely assistant if she could work and millions in studio backing. August 5. Weren’t directors of the New films. It began with Star Wars. If Star arrange one after spying the catering tray The famously outspoken auteur is in It doesn’t seem from watching the Hollywood like yourself put in im- Wars had failed, about 80 percent of in the Beethoven Suite at the Grandhotel KV to present a newly restored version film that you and Roy Scheider were possible positions if their work hap- the films made today would not be Pupp, where these things tend to take of Sorcerer, which is now garnering in conflict, but you never worked pened to make huge profits, with the made. They’re all basically extensions place. new interest worldwide. with him again, right? studios now expecting you to keep of Star Wars, which changed the zeit- An obvious pro, Friedkin received the I’ve only worked with a couple of churning out these kinds of returns? geist tremendously. whopping snack in mid-reply to a question Sorcerer didn’t make that much at actors more than once. Every film I do I don’t think so. The zeitgeist is al- and began to attack it without missing the box office originally, did it? is different. It doesn’t have the same ways changing. The audiences for film Continued on page 2 a beat. Ever the gracious host, he then of- So what? This doesn’t matter. characters or require the same actors. get younger; they have their own in- fered half to his interrogators. z SEE YOU THERE EXPLAINER

DIRECTOR, DANIEL WOLFE CATCH ME DADDY PLENTY TO SEE BESIDES FILMS If you’ve been spending most of the ther take the trails 1km down to the Three films I want to see are The Tribe, Leviathan screens today (2pm, last few days in darkened cinema Deer Leap (Jelení skok) lookout, Leviathan, and Calvary. I missed Leviathan Thermal Grand Hall) and also July 12 halls, you might need to replenish which also has fabulous views of the while in Cannes but my brother saw it and said (6:30pm, KV Theatre), Calvary is also your Vitamin D reserves and catch town, or take the funicular to Deer it was amazing. Calvary I’ve wanted to see but playing July 12 (10:30pm, Lázně III). a little sunlight for a few hours. Leap station. To get back down from missed. I’ve chatted with the director [John The final showing of The Tribe is today Head up the hills and take in stun- there you can take the stairs on the Michael McDonagh] and it sounds interesting. (3:30pm, Thermal Small Hall). Wolfe’s ning views from one of the “spa for- right, which lead to the Grandhotel I want to see The Tribe because it’s Catch Me Daddy screens on July 12 est’s” lookout points. Starting behind Pupp. from a Ukrainian director [Myroslav (7:30pm, Lázně III). the Grandhotel Pupp, hike thirty min- Heights aren’t for you? Then go be- Slaboshpytskiy]. I was recently in Ukraine utes up Friendship Hill’s marked neath the surface on an underground shooting a music video for Paolo Nutini and forest trails, or take the three-minute hot spring excursion. Exclusively for I just loved it. It’s a very difficult time because funicular ride. At the last station is the KVIFF, the Hot Spring Colonnade’s of the revolution, but the people were great. In Diana Observation Tower (pic- basement will be open for tours from Kiev there was a feeling that things weren’t tured). Take the lift or climb the 150 8pm to 10pm. Visitors are treated to great, but they were glad to have us filming and stairs up the 547-meter high landmark first-hand views of objects that are in bringing work to the country. It was strange; to view distances of 70km, free of the process of being petrified as sou- you’d street-cast young guys and they’d ask the charge. Once there, you can stop at venirs, rare minerals, century-old un- dates. When we told them they’d go, “No, Diana Restaurant’s forest terrace for derground plumbing, and other sub- we’re going east to fight.” It was a strange sit- a refreshing beverage or bite, or visit terranean delights. Tickets can be uation, but not dangerous, just quite upsetting. the mini-zoo where you’ll find ponies, purchased at the Hot Spring People were talking about The Tribe and when goats, birds and Chinese pigs. Colonnade near Divadelní náměstí.

I saw the clip I thought, “Wow!” (IVP) After the Diana tower you can ei- Photo: ČTK (MT) strana 2 / page 2 FESTIVAL DAILY Wednesday, July 9, 2014

DOCU SIDEBAR GOES BEYOND FICTION MY KV The Maw Naing Director, The Monk Photo: KVIFF Photo: KVIFF Photo: Milan Malíček It’s hard to get in the party mood in Carnival Into the Clouds We Gaze, says Europe’s “lost generation” You did a fellowship at the 2012 elections, censorship Will Tizard during summer. The mixture of erational crisis in her country in Other fascinating docus you’re Prague’s FAMU film school, has relaxed. But there are still no sex, loud music, badly cus- which parents are forced to go still in time to catch on screen which co-produced The Monk, set rules – it depends on their Whatever the most imaginative tomized cars, flavored vodka and abroad for work, leaving their are: German, Czech, Turkish, and the film that opened the mood what they allow. We must fiction film writer can come up beer in PET bottles was some par- children to fend for themselves Swiss co-production Istanbul Forum of Independents side- still apply to show The Monk in with, something wilder and ticipants’ highlight of the year.” for troublingly long stretches. United, which looks at the effects bar. How’d that come about? Burma. stranger eventually happens on To his “characters,” as docu- “I wanted to talk about child- of Turkey’s civil unrest on foot- I made a feature-length docu- You’ve cited Iranian docu- camera unscripted – that is, if mentarians refer to real people in hood and then about adoles- ball by Olli Waldhauer and Farid mentary about the May 2008 cy- mentary-style filmmaker a great documentarian is there to their films, car body work and cence,” says Mihai, “which I find Eslam; Austria’s Steadiness, clone, Nargis: When Time Abbas Kiarostami as an influ- catch the moment. tricked out engines are “so inter- such a rich and intriguing period a Vienna-Norway road trip story Stopped Breathing, and when ence. What draws you to his Fans of KVIFF’s respected esting and important for them in in a person’s life. And I also by Lisa Weber; and Russian/ I finished my course at FAMU work? documentary section know this comparison with their everyday wanted to touch the subjects of Estonian political protest tale the school asked if I had ideas Yes, a great influence. I like feeling of suspense and, some- life,” the filmmaker says. “I start- brotherhood, family... and of The Term by Pavel Kostomarov, for a feature film. Then in 2011 exploring social issues – I don’t times, amazement very well. ed to follow my character, the un- course of the difficult socioeco- Alexander Rastorguev, and my friend scriptwriter Aung Min want to make a film only for en- Thus, the 10 feature-length docus employed and somehow lost guy nomical context of Romania – Alexey Pivovarov. and I participated in a script de- tertainment. I was born in competing this year – along with Ráďa, with almost anthropologi- my country of birth – which puts Documentary short films still veloping workshop at Midpoint: a closed society and we could six under 30 minutes in length – cal interest. I believe this film is family ties under a great amount to screen are Argentina’s The Central European Script Center. not revolt or change things. have been packing audiences in- not just his story but also a story of pressure.” Queen, a study of the tortures of We also met Karel Och [now Kiarostami’s films reflect some- to screening halls, as the docu- of the whole European ‘lost gen- The key to cracking this over- a young Carnival celebrity by KVIFF artistic director] at the thing like that. mentary race usually does. eration’ of young people.” whelming issue, she says, was Manuel Abramovich; the brood- festival then. What are you keen to see in One such Czech exploration of For films such as this one, finding her film’s 15-year-old ing US oilfield documentary It was risky to make Nargis, KV? Whom do you hope to a world few creative writers screening at KVIFF can help pro- hero, a girl forced to care of her Solitary Plains by J. Christian though distributed abroad – meet? could hope to capture authenti- pel their labor of love into cine- siblings while her mother labors Jensen; Netherlands eco-caution- you didn’t use your real name. I saw [Turkish director Nuri cally is Martin Dušek’s Into the mas and more festivals world- in Italy. ary tale Wild Boar by Willem There’s less censorship now, Bilge Ceylan’s] Once Upon Clouds We Gaze, billed by the wide if things go well. “I just wanted to make an inti- Baptist; and The Water and the but did you have problems a Time in Anatolia here in 2011 writer-director as a custom-car “It is a great success for us to mate portrait of Georgiana, an Wall, a short film from making The Monk? – a great film. I don’t know subculture tour of “alcohol, be here since we started as a nor- adolescent girl and her six broth- Switzerland by Alice Fargier, The camera was like a gun what to see yet... In Burma, drugs, erotica, sex.” mal TV production,” Dušek adds. ers and sisters,” says Mihai, “be- comprising an interview by Luc from the military dictatorship’s producers like to make come- As Dušek puts it, “I wanted to Another filmmaker in the do- cause I believe universality is ex- Dardenne with an 11-year-old point of view. To get permission dies or love stories. So in KV capture the feeling I had when cus section, Teodora Ana Mihai, actly to be found in those small, boy who is greatly moved after to film we submitted a synopsis I hope to meet with producers I got to car tuning events that take who directed Romania’s Waiting intimate, local stories, which watching the Dardenne brothers’ for a fake story. We illegally shot who like the kind of work we’re place at old airports and fields for August, sheds light on a gen- people can relate to.” The Kid with a Bike. z all of our documentaries. Since doing on social issues. (BK)

OFFICIAL SELECTION OFFICIAL SELECTION CORN ISLAND – BUCOLIC FAIR PLAY – FINDING HONOR CALM IN A VOLATILE REGION UNDER A CORRUPT REGIME Cóilín O’Connor Cóilín O’Connor The border between Georgia The murky world of commu- and its breakaway republic of nist-era doping in sports is laid Abkhazia is one of the main fault- bare in Fair Play, the third feature lines of the volatile Caucasus re- by Czech director Andrea gion and this is the setting for Sedláčková (who also has an ed- George Ovashvili’s second fea- iting credit for 2005 French Oscar ture, Corn Island, which is nominee Merry Christmas). screening as a world premiere at Set in Czechoslovakia in 1983, KVIFF. 18-year-old Anna (Judit Bárdos) In an area notorious for its is an elite sprinter shortlisted as frozen interethnic conflict, which a candidate to compete in the up- has displaced some 250,000 coming Olympics in Los Angeles. Photo: KVIFF Georgians, we see another side of To boost her chances, Anna’s Photo: KVIFF life here as the film focuses on an George Ovashvili’s film looks at the Caucasus beyond the headlines. sports mentors assign her to Eva Josefíková (left) and Judit Bardós star in Andrea Sedláčková’s film. Abkhaz peasant (Ilyas Salman) a mysterious regimen of perform- and his teenage granddaughter protagonists communicate on award-winning The Other Bank, ance-enhancing “vitamins.” programs in the Eastern bloc epit- cence in socialist Czechoslovakia (Mariam Buturishvili) grappling a basic non-verbal level. Shot on which screened in KVIFF’s East Although her racing times duly omize the situation faced by and the issues that most of the with the challenges posed by the 35mm by Elemer Ragalyi, we get of the West section in 2009, also improve, increased body hair and many under the old communist people around me had to deal natural environment. some great scenic visuals while referenced the Abkhaz conflict. other weird physical changes dictatorship. She was inspired to with, albeit in perhaps less ex- The action takes place on the they work in silence, comfortable However, whereas his first film make her suspicious, and she make a film on the subject after treme situations,” she says. Inguri River, which divides in each other’s company. There is focused on a Georgian refugee re- soon discovers to her horror that reading about this state-sanc- “Back then, adolescents often Georgia and Abkhazia. Every a bucolic stillness to their labors turning to Abkhazia in search of that these supplements are in fact tioned cheating in a newspaper came to realize that their parents year, spring flooding on this body as they patiently till the new soil, his father, Corn Island depicts the anabolic steroids. article. were living under a system based of water produces temporary is- build a hut, and plant their seeds. region from an Abkhaz viewpoint, Unwilling to cheat, but afraid “I immediately said to myself on lies, and they hoped that they lands made up of rocks, dirt and It’s far from a rural idyll, raising eyebrows in his homeland. of being kicked out of the sports that this was a huge topic, which wouldn’t turn out the same. Their debris. These new patches of land though, and the occasional ap- “We thought telling the story program if she openly opposes had never been dealt with in a fea- parents also had to decide provide fertile soil in which local pearance of armed border patrols from the other perspective would the use of these drugs, she quiet- ture film, and that it also allowed whether they should set a moral farmers can grow extra crops, on motorboats ominously hints at be more interesting, even for ly stops taking them. me to delve into issues that are example for their children and which they can hopefully harvest the threat of violence lurking in Georgian audiences,” Ovashvili Unbeknownst to her, however, close to my own heart – freedom live as outcasts, or whether they before all is swept away by fresh the background. Of far more con- told Radio Free Europe in May. Anna’s mother, Irena (Anna of choice, honor, and self-re- should conform to the regime, floods. The man and his younger cern to the farmers, however, is “A lot of things about what hap- Geislerová, continuing her spect,” she says. collaborate with it, and thereby companion lay claim to one such the constantly encroaching river, pen on the other side remain be- smooth transition to more mature One of the most impressive as- ensure a better future for their islet and begin planting corn which is slowly eroding their lit- yond our reach, both in terms of roles), is intent on getting her to pects of the film is the extremely children,” she says. “I put a lot of there. tle island and threatening to wash information and emotion. We the Olympics, seeing it as her faithful depiction of the dreary my own experiences, as well as Although the Caucasus is home away their hard-earned crop. tried to open up the emotional daughter’s best chance of escap- communist milieu of the 1980s those of my peers and our par- to dozens of distinct ethnicities As the corn eventually ripens, side of it and tell the story from ing to find a better life in the and this verisimilitude owes a lot ents, into the screenplay. In this and mother tongues, the director the young girl also blossoms and another angle.” West. This prompts Irena to se- to Sedláčková’s own experience sense, the film is very personal.” appears to sidestep the linguistic her budding sexuality comes to cretly conspire with her daugh- of that era. frictions that pervade this milieu the fore when a young man on the Corn Island screens today (8pm , ter’s coach to ensure that Anna “Anna...is roughly the same age Fair Play screens today (5pm, by almost eschewing language al- run from local militias arrives on Thermal Grand Hall), tomorrow keeps receiving her daily dose. I was in 1983. Of course, Fair hermal Grand Hall), tomorrow together, keeping dialogue to the scene... (1pm, Pupp), and on July 12 For Sedláčková, the difficult Play is not about me, but [in some (10am, Pupp), and July 12 (9am, brief conversations and having his Ovashvili’s debut feature, the (11:30am, Drahomíra). z moral choices posed by doping ways] it is also about my adoles- Drahomíra) z

Write to us at [email protected]. (Also go to: facebook.com/KVIFF, Twitter via @festdenik (tweets by official guests), @kviffest (in English). Wednesday, July 9, 2014 FESTIVAL DAILY strana 3 / page 3 NO SUCH THING NERO SAYS DJANGO MAY RIDE AGAIN

AS CLOSURE Kristýna Pleskotová Italian actor, writer, producer and Continued from page 1 director Franco Nero has appeared in hundreds of films around the world, And didn’t these kinds of profit expectations turn including the lead role in Elio Petri’s a lot of promising directors into victims, as maybe A Quiet Place in the Country happened with you on Sorcerer? (screening tomorrow as part of I wouldn’t use the word victims. The zeitgeist KVIFF’s tribute to the late director) changes. Literature has changed. Popular music has before portraying the lonely coffin- changed. So has contemporary classical music. Nobody dragging Django in Sergio writes like Beethoven anymore but fortunately we have Corbucci’s iconic 1966 spaghetti Beethoven. western. Nero also stars in Fanny Critics and filmmakers have spent ages trying to Ardant’s recent feature, Obsessive work out what it was you did in The Exorcist that Rhythms, also screening at this year’s scared the hell out of a generation. festival as a special event. I don’t spend time trying to figure it out. The film is about the mystery of faith. And even people who have no You said that, for you, Elio Petri belief are concerned about such things. Almost every per- is like Stanley Kubrick… son that I know who is not a believer is concerned about Yes, he’s the Italian Kubrick be- what will happen to them after they die. There are very cause the best Italian directors like few people who think, “Well, that’s it; it’s all over.” Most Fellini, Antonioni and many others, people are concerned about an afterlife, about the power of they were great directors but they al- faith. And we’ve seen the power of faith work in very mys- ways did the same movie. Elio was terious ways. the only one, he must have done 10, But there have been hundreds of horror films which 12 movies, and each of them was tried to frighten people that never achieved half of completely different. A movie about Photo: Milan Malíček what The Exorcist did in terms of emotional impact. science fiction, a movie about...the By his own reckoning, Franco Nero has appeared in around 200 films. The Exorcist is not a horror film. It was never intended world of paintings, then movies to be a horror film. I never spoke with the actors or the about workers in a factory. He al- I read that in the original likes.” And so he took the photos and Do you still plan to do more cameramen about a horror film. We talked about a film ways changed subjects and I think he Django you were cast by coinci- [the distributor] pointed a finger on westerns? about the mystery of faith. And it was based on a true sto- was a fantastic, very talented direc- dence? You were picked by a dis- my face. That’s it. I was already doing In America they would love to do ry of which there was no explanation. There are many tor. tributor… other movies but that was the big a movie with me, called Django things on earth that are unexplained. You are also here for Fanny First thing is Elio Petri. I was in the break. Lives! That would be the last Django, There’s been almost a fearlessness in your choice of Ardant’s film. What was it like to car with Elio...and I said, “Elio, I’ve You’ve played in almost 200 set in 1915. The studios in America, subjects and stories, from putting Al Pacino into the be directed by her? been offered a western,” and he said, movies all over the world with in Hollywood, they were producing gay leather bar scene in Cruising to the car chase that’s It was nice. One day I told her, “Do people know you? No, nobody. many famous directors, and from the first westerns with no voice, unexplained in To Live and Die in LA – a first, no? “One day you must tell me what you So you just do it, you have nothing to 1964, you’ve had at least one pre- mute. And they used to engage – to Well, we don’t know why anything is happening! We want to say about this movie.” “I will lose.” And that’s why I did the west- miere each year… hire – heroes of the West to be con- have no closure. Life usually doesn’t end with closure. tell you,” she said. She still hasn’t ern. But before that, it’s true. There One new movie? Five, or six sultants. Like Wyatt Earp, like A lot of my films have been about the mystery of fate, not told me yet. It’s a very original movie was this production and they had in movies! But nobody has my filmog- Buffalo Bill. So in this movie they faith. We have nothing to say about how we come into this she wrote and directed. I love to be mind two other actors to play Django. raphy because I don’t use a comput- hire Django as a consultant. And world or how we’re going to leave it. directed by actors or actresses be- And one producer wanted one actor, er so nobody knows exactly. I hate there would be no horses [but there But most directors will say the audience needs an arc cause I am an actor and I’ve directed then another producer wanted a guy the computers. I’m the only one who will be] cars. You know, the first cars, to follow to stay involved with the story. many, and most of the time actors from Spain, and Corbucci wanted me. has my filmography. Two years ago chasing. It’s going to be something I don’t care. I understood what it was about! And I don’t have said that they’ve never been di- So one producer said, “Listen, these we went through it for two or three very interesting. feel the necessity to explain anything. I don’t really be- rected better. We actors know how to guys, none of them are popular any- days and, little by little, I started to lieve that people go to the cinema for explanations. I be- direct other actors. Actors are fantas- way. We go to the distributor and we recall all my movies, the titles. And Obsessive Rhythms screens today at lieve they go for emotional reasons – to laugh or to cry or tic directors, so it was nice to be di- take a photo of each of the three ac- yeah, we counted about two hundred 1pm in Espace Dorleans and tomorrow to be frightened. z rected by Fanny. tors and he will choose the face he movies. at 10am in Thermal Cinema B z

FACES Laurence Boyce, CRITIC’S CHOICE CONTRIBUTOR, SCREEN INTERNATIONAL /CINEUROPA/EESTI EKSPRESS Watch for two special events guests arriving today – British director of Bjork: Biophilia This intensely personal film Live Peter Strickland, who FREE RANGE will present the European pre- from Estonian director Veiko miere of his film, and the star Õunpuu is a compelling work Director: Veiko Õunpuu of world-premiering In that veers between relationship Estonia, 2013, 104 min Silence, Judit Bárdos. drama and a critique of modern July 9, 10am, Čas Cinema Coming to KV for the life. Given that its story is about Official Selection line-up are a film critic who finds himself director Angelina Nikonova choosing between whether to members of the audience. With a track featuring the likes of Scott along with co-writer and lead- live a life of hedonism or settle number of stylistic and surrealis- Walker, the film is an interesting ing actress Olga Dihovichnaya down with a family, it also tic touches, some strong per- example of contemporary with the film Welkome Home, speaks to – shall we say – certain formances, and a superb sound- Estonian cinema. Hungarian director György Pálfi with his film Free Fall, and prolific Czech thesp Anna Peter Strickland Judit Bárdos More Baltic cinema as this paean CHERRY TOBACCO Geislerová will return for the to first love shows off the beauty Director: Katrin Maimik, international premiere of Fair of the Estonian countryside Andres Maimik whilst maintaining an almost Play. Estonia, 2014, 93 min Also around today are co- dreamlike atmosphere that mir- July 9, 4pm, Karlovy Vary Theatre directors Farid Eslam and rors the heady intoxication of Olli Waldhauer with their falling for someone for the first documentary Istanbul United time. Aside from looking beauti- performances from the talented for the charms of the older for its international premiere. ful, it also manages to avoid young actress Maris Nõlvak, Joosep played in another great Another documentarian to cliché and contains some strong who plays Laura, a girl who falls performance by Gert Raudsep. look for is Andreas Horvath with his film Earth’s Golden After his short film Frozen Playground. KEBAB & HOROSCOPE Directors Abdolreza Stories, the debut feature from Kahani with We’ve Got Time, Polish director Grzegorz Director: Grzegorz Jaroszuk and O Muel with Golden Jaroszuk has been eagerly await- Poland, 2014, 72 min Chariot in the Sky are showing ed. A superbly observed black July 9, 4:30pm, Lázně III up with world premieres for Olli Waldhauer Abdolreza Kahani comedy that’s clearly influenced the Forum of Independents by the likes of Aki Kaurismäki sidebar. And from the Czech and Roy Andersson. It’s a static mor. There are lots of great per- Justyna Wasilewska keeping up Films 2013-2014 section, di- and languid film full of absurd formances in Frozen Stories as with the likes of established ac- rector and writer Bohdan situations and some moments of well with a cast of young Polish tors, including Bartłomiej Topa. Karásek will be out and about genuinely laugh-out-loud hu- stars such as Piotr Żurawski and with starring actress Taťjana Medvecká from the film Love Songs. The subject of one of this year’s BEN RIVERS – Look out for director Asif retrospectives at Karlovy Vary, SHORT FILMS V and I Rustamov, who will appear at this opportunity to see some of Director: Ben Rivers, UK the festival with the film the shorts from British filmmak- July 9, 4pm and 7pm, Down the River’s world pre- er and artist Ben Rivers should miere within the East of the not be missed. Shooting on 16mm Husovka Theater West sidebar, and Dietrich and working in the spaces be- Brüggemann, director of tween documentary and fiction, evating the mundane into the Ah Liberty! winner of the Tiger Stations of the Cross in the Rivers often examines outsiders beautiful. Highlights of the two Award for Best Short Film at the Horizons program. (MT) O Muel Asif Rustamov in society and has a knack for el- shorts packages screening include 2008 Rotterdam Film Festival. z

Write to us at [email protected]. (Also go to: facebook.com/KVIFF, Twitter via @festdenik (tweets by official guests), @kviffest (in English). strana 4 / page 4 FESTIVAL DAILY Wednesday, July 9, 2014 ART-FILM MASTER OF A ‘VERY FERTILE AREA’

Brian Kenety Speaking of isolation, on A Spell to Ward off the Darkness Last year, director and artist (2013), exploring a man’s quest Ben Rivers introduced the new for utopia, you collaborated Imagina sidebar screening films with experimental director Ben taking cinematic roads less trav- Russell. You share an interest in elled (shunning linear narrative, ethnography, early cinema, embracing abstracting tech- Surrealism... One reviewer niques). This year, KVIFF is called you the “Brothers Ben.” screening a retrospective of his How was it to work in tandem? own experimental films, which of- Utopian? Dystopian? ten blur documentary lines. The other Ben has more expe- rience collaborating, so he helped You shoot mainly in 16mm. me through it [laughs] – What’s special about this for- I thought I might find it difficult mat for you? because all the other films I’ve There’s a pretty huge history of made pretty much all by my- cinema shot in 16mm, artists and self.... The reason for working to- others experimenting and making gether was to push each other to films outside of the commercial do something we wouldn’t do realm – [French New Wave direc- normally by ourselves. To get rid tor] Jacques Rivette made some of our egos. And it worked really of his greatest films on it. Coming well. We shared the camera work from an art college background, equally and did all the editing to- I like making things with my gether. We didn’t argue – apart hands – and 16mm is tactile. from when I was hungry. It was I started off hand-processing pretty utopian and went hand in things, which added a whole oth- hand with us collaborating also er level to the process. It seems with the band and other people in much more alive to me as a medi- the film. um [than digital]. There are in- Spell features Robert herent accidents or unexpected A. A. Lowe (aka Lichens) who things that happen with film. And has done vocals for stoner/doom I like surprises. They’re kind of metal band Om and black met- built into my whole practice. al band Twilight. I have a silly What was the idea behind question for you. Were you

your first short, just over Photo: Milan Malíček a metal fan, or have you since a decade ago? Ben Rivers is fascinated by “hermetic worlds,” be it “the space an individual has built around them, or a factory, or an island.” become one? The Big Sink! [laughs] The I was already [laughs] – though idea was to make a kind of think, “God, if I did that now, I’d – not that digital is a bad idea – tile area, and not alone in think- recluse Jake Williams from more of doom than of black met- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde using change it.” Still, if I could go back but I do think it’s useful for peo- ing that all films are a kind of your short This is My Land al. I like doom. black-and-white super 8, and I’d and talk to 19-year-old Ben, ple just starting out to invest a bit construction. Even if it’s a docu- (2006). It’s been called your What’s next? You’re working been watching a lot of Alain I might prefer to not say anything, of money in making something in mentary, there’s still a great deal “crowning achievement” and with fellow artist/filmmaker Resnais [Night and Fog], who because it’s then a ripple effect – film. It forces you to make very of manipulation. I’m always re- compared to Nanook of the Gabriel Abrantes... was cutting backward and for- that’s the danger in time travel, different kinds of decisions than luctant to say a film is a “docu- North (1922). Do you consider it He’s been making short films ward in time, making these very and I don’t know if I’d want to if you have a video camera and mentary” because that comes your magnum opus? that have done very well which fragmented films which sort of change anything. I think it’s real- endless time to shoot. That’s not with certain preconceptions – you No, that’s still coming [laughs]. are more narrative than mine. time traveled. So in a very, very ly important to live with your necessarily that helpful. It’s good know, that this is “real”... But I hope that I’m always learning We’ve co-written and will co-di- crude way, I tried to play with the mistakes. That said, I’d probably to see what you can do with a 3- that’d be a kind of common and making better films – or not rect a short film. One reason story in the same way, just using give myself technical advice minute roll of film. thread. I’m also interested in her- “better”, but moving forward. But I wanted to work with him be- my friends as actors. I would’ve liked to have known Is it fair to say that, if there’s metic worlds. The space an indi- it is a movie I’m very proud of, cause I was interested in making Speaking of time travel, if you then, because I was just making it a common thread in your films, vidual has built around them, or for sure, with no small thanks to a narrative film. could go back in time and give up – at my art school, there were it’s that they blur the documen- a factory, or an island – they all Jake, as well, because he’s such What’s the working title? yourself advice, what do you no film tutors... I bought a Super tary/fiction line, eschew plot- have this kind of parameter. an important presence and inspi- The Hunchback. It’s a comedy think you’d say? 8 camera from a secondhand driven narrative? Two Years at Sea (2011), set in ration that I decided to go back to set in the future [laughs] – maybe There are films I look at and store and off I went. And actually I’m interested in that very fer- the Scottish backwoods, follows him. that’s all I should say about it. z ON THE TOWN EVENTS

Charleston clined to just grab a brew, how- FILM NEW EUROPE as well as bronze and terracotta sculp- Bulharská 1 ever, a cool half-liter of Pilsner COPRODUCTION MEETING / tures from the last ten years of his Tel.: 353230 797 Urquell (52 CZK) is never 3-5PM / FILMMAKERS’ LOUNGE, work. a bad call. (MT) Open 9am-midnight ČAS CINEMA THE LIFT / 1PM / IMPERIAL If you need a break from the Venezia A presentation of co-production CABLE CAR commotion surrounding the Zahradní 60 schemes of film funds from Central Thermal, the Charleston is right 353 229 721 Europe, with case studies of ongoing Festival visitors have the opportunity to up the hill past the Tomáš venezia-pizzeria.cz joint projects between countries in the ride the Imperial cable car and see 555- Masaryk fountain. Decorated Open 11:30am-11:30am region. Moderated by Cathy Meils (Film Tereza Velíková – “The Lift” project, tak- with vintage sepia-tone photos This conveniently located New Europe) and followed by a cocktail ing place along the way, an audiovisual and classic newspaper clip- restaurant and pizzeria (empha- for participants. Limited to 40 profes- performance playing with time and pings, this quiet, dimly lit size the former) directly across sionals; registration requested. space, with as many acts as there are English-style pub is a great the river from the Hotel Partners: State Cinematography Fund, visitors willing to ride. place to grab a steak (429 Thermal serves up a wide vari- Polish Film Institute, and Slovak ELO & KV SYMPHONY CZK). Veal cheeks in red wine ety of quality, authentic pastas Audiovisual Fund. or roasted duck (both in the and pizzas made of fresh Italian ORCHESTRA / 7PM / OUTDOOR 250-300 CZK) range were rec- ingredients regularly imported JAROSLAV RÓNA – HEART OF CINEMA, SLOVENSKÁ 2003 ommended by the smiling and by owner Claudio Boglio. The DARKNESS / 10AM-7PM ALL Pop Meets Symphony, a double concert efficient staff, and they didn’t affordable, hearty dishes, such Photo: Milan Malíček WEEK / KV ART GALLERY / disappoint. You’ll also find a se- as the Sicilian style penne, or Charleston – a little bit of olde England in KV GOETHOVA STEZKA 6 featuring the British rock celebrities ELO lection of pastas and a variety of any of the pies with generous (music by the Electric Light Orchestra salads in the 130-200 CZK toppings are all between 100 like the grilled sea bass for 490 life, but make sure to call ahead The painter, writer, teacher, sculptor of performed by singer Phil Bates) and the range. Italian chardonnay and and 200 CZK. Large meat and CZK. The comfortable chande- as this central hotspot fills up the Prague monument to Franz Kafka, Karlovy Vary Symphonic Orchestra. merlot are available (48 CZK fish dishes are also on hand but liered terrace is a perfect place pretty quickly around the usual and star of the KVIFF trailer in 2002, Advance tickets 200 CZK/300 CZK at per glass). If you’re more in- they’ll run you a little more, to keep an eye on the festival lunch and dinner hours. (MT) presents a selection of picture stories the door. (MT) DAILIES 1 2 3

1/ Producer of Works in Progress winner Goat (Ivan Ostrochovský) talks with jury member Niloufar Siassi. Journey to Rome and The Gulls also made the shortlist.

2/ Nowhere in Moravia director Miroslav Krobot with cast mem- bers Tatiana Vilhelmová (center) and Lenka Krobotová.

3/ Umm... what screening? Photo: Jan Handrejch Photo: Milan Malíček Photo: Milan Malíček

Write to us at [email protected]. (Also go to: facebook.com/KVIFF, Twitter via @festdenik (tweets by official guests), @kviffest (in English).