tuesday 2. 7. 2019 05 free festival kviff’s main media partner Inside

Main Competition: The Father and Half-Sister 02 daily Road trip Over the Hills 03 East of the West: tense connections 04 special edition of Právo Photo: KVIFF Photo:

According to the film’s director, Hutchence had a way to cut through Melbourne punk scene bullshit.

Beyond the rock star Lowenstein says in making the fi lm he gained some insight into his old friend’s character because he would show one side of himself Trapped in the 80s to his male friends that relied on having a good time, his more pub- lic persona. “He would always give Mystify: reveals the complicated fi gure behind the you a taste of what it was like to be a rock star,” he says. “But you never mythical INXS frontman really sat down and had big discus- sions about himself.” The film offered another, more In his documentary on the magnetic, enigmatic and ultimately tragic frontman for 80 s megastars INXS, Michael intimate view of the singer by the Hutchence, director Richard Lowenstein – who arrived in Karlovy Vary for the fi lm’s European premiere – plunges degree to which the perspective on him is female - with deeply the viewer completely into the singer’s life and times by only using footage from the past, without relying on talking revealing interviews from mostly heads. ex-girlfriends such as Michele Bennett, Kylie Minogue and Helena Christensen, as well as by Michael Stein personal footage of Hutchence? likes of Nick Cave and Th e Birthday out to a beach in Queensland and their US tour manager Martha It turns out he just had to walk Party had emerged, another uni- was immediately disarmed by the Troup. “I wanted to take you on upstairs to his attic, where he was verse from where pop star Michael bands’ and Hutchence’s warmth. “It was interesting how multi- a time-traveling journey,” says shocked to fi nd he had a treasure Hutchence came from. “Th ey were so friendly and Mi- faceted he was as I would speak Lowenstein. “I wanted to take the trove sitting in rusty fi lm cans, “Michael and INXS represented chael was so eff usive,” he says. “He to each girlfriend and they would audience back into the 80 s and outtakes from INXS videos he had mainstream music,” he says. “Th eir just cut through our Melbourne tell me stuff they hadn’t told other keep them there, and trap them saved as well as Hutchence’s own songs, from the very beginning bullshit - I had color in my hair people,” he says. “He was showing there in this imagery.” home movies. were very commercial. Th ey were and was pale as a vampire and he a lot more to the women in his life But not fi lming the people you clean-cut boys. Th ey didn’t do was wearing a Hawaiian shirt - but than the men in his life.” • interview means you need footage Two distant worlds drugs. Th ey wore bright colors. So he cut through all the bullshit and of some kind - concert and music Lowenstein came out of what he we would sneer at them a bit.” within 24 hours we were all snor- Mystify: Michael Hutchence screens July video clips can’t fi ll up an entire describes as the countercultural, In 1983 Lowenstein got a call keling together off the Great Bar- 3 at 4 pm (Národní dům Cinema) and fi lm, so where was Lowenstein eclectic world of the Melbourne un- asking him to do a music video for rier Reef, which Melbourne punks July 6 at 4 pm (Karlovy Vary Municipal going to fi nd unique, never-seen, derground music scene, where the INXS, and though reluctant, fl ew don’t really do.” Theatre)

Dovilė Butnoriūtė See you there Lithuanian Film Centre Replay

“So how many fi lms have you seen at the selection of projects shown during KVIFF? Any recommendations?” Each the industry program is getting stronger Shooting John Malkovich year, these are not the questions I can and stronger every year, it’s refl ecting KVIFF Photo: answer after coming back home. For the tendencies of what is going on in There is no KVIFF without the festi- Hotel Thermal. “John Malkovich met us those who work in the industry, festivals our region and, which is what I like the val’s beloved trailers: without Casey in Boston the day before for coff ee then are not about watching fi lms – I come most, it spotlights the new generation Affl eck trying to pawn his Crystal Globe, he drove us around the city and after here to watch unfi nished scenes, to of fi lmmakers I’m representing as well. Helen Mirren battling hers while it refus- that invited us for dinner. He got terribly This year’s trailer stars Czech icon make promises and promote upcoming All this, combined with the people who es to stay in its box, or John Malkovich drunk and started sharing all sorts of Bohdalová. Lithuanian fi lms. In short: to spend all my come here to explore, makes this event exploding in the taxi over the concept of conspiracy theories with us such as The time talking outside of the cinema. And an important meeting point before a very a lifetime achievement award. Guardian being run by the KGB. And as fi nd material to show Czech actress I love it! busy autumn. KVIFF is the place where “It was one of the most pleasant he is so terribly smart it was diffi cult to Jiřina Bohdalová haunted by her past Days at KVIFF are intense; it’s all you can expect the unexpected! • MB shoots,” said Ivan Zachariáš, one of two disprove it.” as the voice of numerous beloved chil- about celebrating talents, matchmaking directors behind the trailers alongside Things weren’t quite as easy this dren’s cartoons. “It was 48 hours of ma- and brainstorming new ways for part- KVIFF Eastern Promises Industry Days Martin Krejčí, who explained how they year: Instead of free meals Krejčí had terial,” he moaned jokingly. “At the end, it nerships and representation. I feel that 2019 take place until July 2. roll at yesterday’s KVIFF Talk held in to rummage through vast archives to was driving me crazy.” • MB july 2, 2019 festival daily

Official selection Official selection

in the story. Where is the strange feeling sparked the breakdown that must surely story about two grumpy and

Photo: KVIFF Photo: be coming? Or is it just that KVIFF Photo: stubborn but good and vul- his life is so attuned to ran- nerable women who barely dom attacks and chaos that know each other. They hate this is pretty much just a day each other but in reality in the life? have no idea why.” Inspired by headlines Letting go Between Vassil believing The two women are so in- his dead wife is trying to call capable of showing affection his phone and his running it makes even a hardened off to join a cult that requires Central European cringe. him to sleep near a grave “The way we communicate while opening his mind to with others always express- dream messages, this father es our desires, fears and manages to keep poor Pavel They hate each other but they don’t know why. frustrations,” says Kozole. on his toes, certainly. Th e “When we do this in an arro- The dead don’t leave voice mail (or do they?) in Bulgaria’s wild longsuff ering son is not just gant, aggressive way we are ride The Father. trying to keep Dad from often concealing our own getting lost in the woods, of Under the skin vulnerability. This is a fi lm course - he’s also determined about two women who want to protect his wife, telling her nothing to do with each Hold the phone over the phone increasingly In Half-Sister, other and deny any similari- fabricated stories about how ty between them. At the end, the funeral trip is going so Slovenia’s Damjan Kozole though, they uncover what The Father takes on death, phone swimmingly. they are both refusing to Writer-director-producer delves into sisterly hate understand.” batteries, grief and madness team Kristina Grozeva and The director says he has Petar Valchanov, following always been fascinated by by Will Tizard the offb eat fi lm takes off up on their previous joint by Iva Roze are forced to share a small people who, because of from there, with Vassil’s son venture, 2014’s Th e Lesson apartment in Ljubljana to- their feelings or beliefs, are A Bulgarian road movie, Pavel forced to endure con- and 2016’s Glory, here hone Th ree years aft er winning gether aft er years of avoid- ready to let go of everything father-and-son rivalry story stant insults while listening their penchant for comic ab- the KVIFF best director ing each other. and start a new life from and a sendup of the Balkan to the increasingly wild ob- surdity and deeply confl icted, award for Nightlife, Slove- The director’s real-life scratch. “Sometimes,” he mysticism cottage industry - sessions of his father. thorny characters. Th e Father nia’s Damj an Kozole brings experience inspired the says, “Things don’t work Th e Father is all these things Th ough it doesn’t appear caps their trilogy of so-called another drama to Karlovy script. “A few years ago, out the way we had hoped or and more, off ering a series that any visible aff ection is Newspaper Clipping stories Vary. Half-Sister, starring I found myself in an un- wanted.” • of painfully authentic family motivating Pavel, his sheer inspired from headlines spot- Ursa Menart, who co-wrote expected situation. I had clashes besetting the clan determination not to ex- ted around the bizarro world the script alongside Liza to confront the possibility Half-sister premieres tonight at surrounding Vasil, a pen- plode when faced with more of post-communist Bulgaria - Marijina, is a story of two that there could be some- 8 pm [Grand Hall] and screens sioner whose wife has just and more madness and a formula that’s been winning estranged half-sisters – body who shares my blood again July 3 at 1 pm [Pupp Cine- died. Opening with a funeral abuse is impressive - and the the fi lmmakers honors at and estranged would be whom I wasn’t aware of,” ma] and July 5 at 11:30 am [Dra- scene gone horribly awry, source of escalating tension fests worldwide. • an understatement – who he says. “This confused and homíra Cinema].

Pamela Jahn Stephen Lan Three picks for today Film Critic, Electric Sheep, UK On the town International Film PR

up with the sun? Take a good stroll, of Fifty years on, it’s hard to believe there are still docu- course! mentaries coming out today that manage to capture Have you ever wandered around KV when

the magic of the fi rst lunar landing in a new light. Horník Petr Photo: the rest of the city is still cozying under the Todd Douglas Miller’s latest attempt is one of those covers? It is sheer bliss. Before the some- rare gems – a fascinating, enlightening and utterly times-oppressive heat settles in, the air is crisp absorbing trip to the moon and back. and the peacefulness is sheer delight. You start to feel like the city belongs to you (as Apollo 11 long as you avoid the boisterous groups of se- verely inebriated youngsters on T. G. Masary- Director: Todd Douglas Miller ka street who’ve been partying all night and USA 2019, 93 min showing no sign of slowing down at 6am). July 2 at 9 am, Cinema B I was desperate for a coff ee; so desperate in fact, that I’d even considered joining the line of morning-aft er party-goers shuf- fl ing their feet in front of the closed doors of a certain fast food chain with a golden arch. But I decided to keep on trudging. This fi lm tore me apart at this year’s Berlinale and Th at’s when the Sweet Gods of Caff eine it’s still one of the most powerful, moving debuts I’ve heard my silent pleas: I’d unexpectedly seen so far this year. Nora Fingscheidt is certainly stumbled upon an unobtrusive coff ee shop a German talent to watch and Helena Zengel as the The Coffee Gods shall lead you to this flat white. that was open before 7 am. But this was no nine-year-old troublemaker delivers a force-of-na- ordinary coff ee shop. Th ese guys roasted ture performance that is impossible to resist. their own beans, had croissants that ri- valled those of my favourite boulangerie System Crasher Mysterious in Cannes, and had pear and almond tarts lovingly made by a Czech ‘nonna’, I’ve been Director: Nora Fingscheidt told. Th us, I had one of the most enjoyable Germany 2019, 118 min coff ee place treats in KV when I’d least expected it. July 2 at 4 pm, Pupp Cinema I do not remember the name of this god- send of a coff ee shop, for the life of me. But On Day 3 of KVIFF, I’d woken up at 5am. I certainly do remember how to get there. Blame it on jetlag, the anxiety of my fi lm And if you promise to treat me for a fl at teams arriving imminently, or too much white, I will take you there.* ‘pivo’ and Becherovka the night before — * Disclaimer: Festival Daily take no re- Think zombies and schnitzel, kitsch and cult, an- or all of the above. What’s a boy to do in sponsibility for the author’s encounters with archy and brass music. The artists Kelly Copper Karlovy Vary when he decides to wake fl at whites. • and Pavol Liška put it all in and turn things up to eleven in their canny, bold and brilliantly bizarre lo-fi low-budget art-house B-movie based on Elfriede Jelinek’s ghostly metaphor for the Nazi past. Bizarre is an understatement actually – the fi lm is a blast. KviffefeTweet of the day Tessie @angleyard Die Kinder der Toten My summer holiday so far: Julianne Moore shook my hand and gave me an Director: Kelly Copper, Pavol Liška Austria 2018, 90 min autograph. Casey Affl eck told me „NICE HAT“ when he saw my Red Sox cap July 2 at 10 am, Národní dům Cinema aaand he did the same thing exactly two years ago so that makes us kinda ol’ friends. I also talked to Floriana Lima. OHMYGOD #KVIFF 2 festival daily july 2, 2019 Czeching in

family seemed to us like one big laboratory which boldly experiments with Photo: KVIFF Photo: various possibilities of living,” the co-writers say. “And the results of those experiments presented im- mensely rich material for a script.” Lost in non-fi ction Ultimately, they realized the spontaneity he projected was lost in fi ction and that fi lming the man himself Father and son try to bridge the distance between their divided with his son on a quest for family and each other. his own family was the only way to get at the essence of his story. Th e fi lm alternates be- Road to help tween a sardonic father-son black comedy, a touching drama of a family torn apart Over the Hills brings two and a visually-stunning portrait of a highly religious Czechs on a deeply personal ancient part of Russia. And it is precisely the incongruity pilgrimage to a Russian of these diff erent styles, the director’s skill and, most im- monastery portantly, the reasons it all fi ts together that make the documentary come across so by Michael Stein the duo not only on a road powerfully. trip to Russia to try to visit “We had a unique oppor- Martin Mareček’s fi lm their estranged mother and tunity to watch Vít and Gri- Over the Hills is not your sister but back into their sha, a father and son who set typical Czech documenta- family history to learn why off for an important, faraway ry. Aft er a brief opening in they split into two camps as visit,” says Mareček. “Full Brno, including a birthday they did. of uncertainties, stumbling trip to grandma’s and some Th e story of the father, as well as showing a sincere cutting back-and-forth dia- Vít Kalvoda, had originally determination.” • logue between the father and struck Mareček and co-writ- son pair the fi lm is based er Tomáš Bojar as a strong Over the Hills premieres today at on, the local surroundings, character to base a feature 3:30 pm [Small Hall] and July 3 past and present, are pulled screenplay on. at 2 pm [Drahomíra Cinema] and away. From there, we follow “Th e odyssey of his July 5 at 11:30 am [Cinema B]. Top 5 Photo: KVIFF Photo:

Fuck, shit, Mid90s was dope, man. Most irksome teens in fi lm

By Marta Bałaga 2. Let There Be Light ever” so often it would make & Michael Stein for a proper drinking game had Serious political, social, and she been of age might actually In Martin Mareček’s documentary family issues - yes of course, but be easily explained: Her story Over The Hills a deeply melan- it’s František Beleš as the diffi - has nothing to do with 6-Headed cholic family story is leavened dent, closed-mouth and hard-to- Shark Attack, Ghost Shark or even by one of the more hysterically read teen at the heart of the fi lm Sharkanado 3: Oh Hell No! As if. stand-offi sh teenagers to grace that really makes it work. Whatever. a KVIFF screen in recent memory. And so, in tribute, some similarly 3. Monos 5. Mean Girls troublesome screen teens for you to cringe from. Teenagers with guns. In a jungle. Although this one isn’t showing Out of their minds on shrooms. at KVIFF this year, Amanda 1. Mid90s Left all alone with a cow named Seyfried’s Karen Smith is hard Shakira and that redhead from to disremember. It was she who Fittingly for a fi lm made by the guy Law & Order. What could possibly made us really happy that high from Superbad, Jonah Hill’s directo- go wrong?! school would indeed one day be rial debut is a true teen-talk extrav- over with her tendency to laugh aganza with fi rst prize easily going 4. The Sharks at people getting diarrhea at to the young Dude – his Dudeness, Barnes & Noble or breasts that or Duder, or el Duderino if you are The constant annoyance of can always tell when it’s going not into the whole brevity thing – Rosina, the protagonist of Lucía to rain. It’s, like, she had ESPN or named Fuckshit. True story. Garibaldi’s fi lm, mumbling “what- something. • 3 july 2, 2019 festival daily East of the West

higher-ups in the chaotic a women’s well-being or an 90 s. But it’s again the main extreme obsession.

Photo: KVIFF Photo: character, nicknamed Bull, Andrei Cohn’s Arrest sees and his family that are at its protagonist abruptly the heart of this fi lm in taken from a family holiday which a tough yet sensitive by the police in late-80 s leader’s own heart (physi- Romania and placed in cally and emotionally) plays a cell with a small-time a crucial role. criminal by the authorities Martti Helde’s second fea- eager to get information, ture Scandinavian Silence is laying bare the pointless a close-up take on a brother degradation of the totalitar- and sister’s relationship and ian system. obscure, troubled past. It Pavol Pekarčík’s Silent repeats the scene of a sister Days tells the story of four picking up her brother on hearing-impaired Romany a country road three times, children. In Czech director with extreme variations in Michal Hogenauer’s A Cer- voice each time. tain Kind of Silence, Mia is “We all have an inner an au pair who fi nds herself voice that’s guiding us facing something well be- Vadym is recording his way to emigration in My Thoughts Are Silent. wherever we go and gives yond what the job descrip- us directions,” Helde says. tion detailed. “Oft en or almost never we In Saudi director Abdul- have the chance to hear mohsen Aldhabaan’s Last and experience somebody Visit, paternal relations are else’s voice. My wish with seen against the backdrop Family Bondage Scandinavian Silence was to of traditional, religious off er this opportunity to the customs. Albania serves viewer - give an opportunity as the remote rural setting This year’s regional selection takes on a diverse, contrasting to empathically view one for Lendita Zeqiraj’s debut story from three diff erent Aga’s House, the story of gamut of family issues. perspectives.” a young boy growing up among women. Prisonbound In Mamonga, a formally With fi lms ranging from a Russian gang thriller to a Saudi homecoming, it’s the power and pain In Serhat Karaas- innovative work by Serbian lan’s Passed By Censor, director Stefan Malešević, of family ties that forms the foundation of this year’s regional selection. And not the family ties a Turkish prison guard who the events of a single night that could title a cheerful American sitcom, but more like ropes and nooses that will strap you works censoring inmate’s let- alter the lives of protagonists ters wants more from life Jovana and Marko. In Karo- down or strangle you. than his colleagues so he lis Kaupinis’ New Lithuania, takes a writing class and meanwhile, a geographer by Michael Stein with his mom in a colorful we wanted to show all this In Th e Bull, former ballet begins mixing his literary comes up with a highly and briskly-paced collage inconvenience and awk- dancer turned director Boris interests with his work, unusual plan to keep the Nevertheless, beneath of genres and extreme sit- wardness through all sorts of Akopov takes on Russian leading to what might be country’s inhabitants safe as the constraints and bleak uations that seems to take details.” street gangs and mafi a a legitimate concern for WWII approaches. • sacrifi ces there emerges the in everything from David sense that these connections Lynch to Eastern European Lost and found represent the most lasting, absurdist cinema. Mother and son relations unbreakable bonds in these “We tried to make a story are also the starting point KVIFF Photo: characters’ lives and that about a person who is of Greek director Vardis even in tragedy they pro- ‘uncomfortable here and Marinakis’ Zizotek. Nine- vide strength and enduring now,’ without reference to year old Jason’s mother takes love. a particular country,” says him far from home to a folk In Antonio Lukich’s My director Antonio Lukich. festival with the intention Thoughts Are Silent the “Emigration for us is just of leaving him there, but over two-meter-tall main an occasion to share with when Jason’s wandering character, Vadym, a sound the audience some intimate in the forest brings him to recordist, is hoping to feelings. Being abnormally a mute’s makeshift house emigrate from his native tall, our main hero does they form a powerful bond Ukraine. He embarks on not fi t in any frame - photo, that leads in entirely unex- a quirky, elusive road trip social or a train car. And pected directions. Aga’s House is filled with a surprisingly tuneful group of women.

Faces Industry events

American director Martha Ste- fi ce. The best project will receive phens to screen her fi lm To the a 50,000 EUR award. Stars and Felipe Ríos with his At 1 pm the Vodafone Lounge Chilean/Argentine fi lm The Man of will host a panel discussion titled

the Future. Jan Handrejch Photo: Potential of Czech Film in Inter- The Offi cial Selection - Out of national Markets: Challenges Competition will see the arrival of and Opportunities. The debate, actor Jaeden Martell to present organized by the Czech Audio- the fi lm The True Adventures of visual Producers’ Association Wolfboy. He is also appearing in (APA) and hosted by fi lm journal- the fi lm The Lodge. Director Marc Marius Olteanu ist Tomáš Baldýnský, aims to coin Schmidt is coming to screen his the key factors that would allow Zhai Yixiang arrives to screen his fi lm Zizotek. Czech producers to succeed in Romanian director Marius Olte- international markets, attracting The 5th day of the 54th KVIFF anu is coming to present his fi lm foreign audiences, festivals, welcomes director Zhai Yixiang Monsters in the Another View broadcasters and distributors and actress Zhang Tongxi with section. And fi nally, German di- alike and establishing Czech fi lm their Chinese main competition rector Thomas Heise arrives to and TV drama as an internation- fi lm Mosaic Portrait. Other main screen his three-and-a-half-hour Hugo Rosák, head of the KVIFF Industry Office ally recognized brand. competition arrivals include opus Heimat Is a Space in Time in Documentary fi lm afi cionados the Imagina section. might want to check out Docs in Progress at 2 pm at Cinema Coming up today Čas. Producers and directors of eight selected documentaries Felipe Ríos from CEE, the Balkans, the for- Film professionals shouldn’t framework. “Presenting projects mer Soviet Union and the Middle fi l m In the Arms of Morpheus in the miss today’s presentation of the that are often at the crossroads East will present projects that Documentary Films competition. Eurimages Lab Project Award of cinema and other art forms, are currently in production or The East of the West section projects at 11 am at Cinema Čas. these pitches are especially post-production that will offi cially welcomes director Michal Ho- For the fourth time at KVIFF relevant to fi lm festival repre- premiere after this year’s KVIFF. genauer to present the world Eurimages has selected eight sentatives, art institutions and The most promising project will premiere of his fi lm A Certain Kind promising projects made out- fi lm students,” says Hugo Rosák, receive an award of 5,000 EUR. • Martha Stephens of Silence while Vardis Marinakis Vardis Marinakis side the traditional fi lm-making head of the KVIFF Industry Of- FŠ 4