American film producer Ron Yerxa will preside over the international jury.
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival has announced the program for its 45th edition July 2–10.
American film producer Ron Yerxa will preside over the international jury of Serbian actress Mirjana Karanovic, South Korean director Lee Chang-dong, Spanish filmmaker Lola Mayo, Russian filmmaker Alexei Popogrebsky, Czech filmmaker Bohdan Slama and international film critic David Stratton.
Twelve films are in competition for the Crystal Globe in the Official Selection, five of them world premieres. Chinese director Chi Zang returns to Karlovy Vary with the world premiere of Diago, about a man’s search for for his Portuguese-Macanese roots. The director’s film The Shaft screened in competition at Karlovy Vary in 2008.
The Czech festival follows its penchant for independent Iranian cinema with the world premiere of There Are Things You Don’t Know. Director Fardin Saheb Zamani’s film debut is billed as an Iranian answer to Taxi Driver.
Although Karlovy Vary is known as an eastward facing festival, the three other world premieres in the main competition come from the West. Hitler In Hollywood (dir. Frédéric Sojcher) is a mockumentary about Hollywood’s plot against the European film industry. The Mosquito Net (dir. Agustí Vila) is an exploration of guilt in which Geraldine Chaplin plays an Alzheimer’s victim. Mourning For Anna (dir. Catherine Martin) follows a woman coping with her daughter’s death.
The official selection also includes two local films: Jan Svěrák’s puppet-animated family adventure Kooky and Tomáš Mašín period piece 3 Seasons In Hell. Svěrák won the Crystal Globe in 1995 with The Ride and the audience award in 2007 with Empties.
The festival’s signature East of the West competition of films from the former socialist bloc includes a number of big draws, including Cristi Puiu’s Cannes title Aurora and Veiko Õunpuu’s Sundance entry The Temptation Of St. Tony. The section features two world premieres: Adis Bakrač’s The Abandoned, about an orphan in Sarajevo searching for his parents; and Chingiz Rasulzade’s The Dolls, a coming-of-age tale set in Azerbaijan during the breakup of the Soviet Union.
Other world premieres at the festival include Quinn Saunders’ Cherry., Edit Sheratzki’s Consolation, Josephine Flasseur’s E.N.V.I.E., Zaman Esmati’s The Orion, and Patrick Demers’ Suspicions, all in the Forum of Independents.
The festival will open with Scott Cooper’s award-winning film Crazy Heart and close with Pascal Chaumeil’s romantic comedy Heartbreaker.
Official Selection – Competition
3 Seasons In Hell (Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia)
Dir: Tomáš Mašín
International sales: The Yellow Affair
Another Sky (Russia)
Dir: Dmitri Mamulia
Brother & Sister (Argentina, Uruguay, Spain)
Dir: Daniel Burman
International sales: BD CINE S.R.L.
Diago (China) WP
Dir: Chi Zhang
Hitler in Hollywood (Belgium, France) WP
Dir: Frédéric Sojcher
Just Between Us (Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia)
Dir: Rajko Grlić
International sales: Wide Management
Kooky (Czech Republic, Denmark)
Dir: Jan Svěrák
Sales: Fandango Portobello Sales
The Mosquito Net (Spain) WP
Dir: Agustí Vila
Mother Teresa of Cats (Poland)
Dir: Paweł Sala
Sales: Syrena Films
Mourning for Anna (Canada) WP
Dir: Catherine Martin
Sweet Evil (France)
Dir: Olivier Coussemacq
Sales: UMEDIA
There Are Things You Don’t Know (Iran) WP
Dir: Fardin Saheb Zamani
Sales: Iranian Independents
East of the West competition
9:06 (Slovenia)
Dir: Igor Šterk
The Abandoned (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, France)
Dir: Adis Bakrač
The Albanian (Germany, Albania)
Dir: Johannes Naber
Aurora (Romania, France, Switzerland, Germany)
Dir: Cristi Puiu
The Dolls (Azerbaijan)
Dir: Chingiz Rasulzade
Don’t Look Into The Mirror (Armenia)
Dir: Suren Babayan
Dreamers (Czech Republic)
Dir: Jitka Rudolfová
Gastarbeiter (Russia)
Dir: Yusup Razykov
The Temptation Of St. Tony (Estonia, Sweden, Finland)
Dir: Veiko Õunpuu
Woman With A Broken Nose (Serbia, Germany)
Dir: Srdjan Koljević
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