Stephan Komandarev’s Bulgarian-German drama Blaga’s Lessons led the winners at the 57th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF), taking three prizes including the Crystal Globe Grand Prix.
The eighth feature from Bulgarian filmmaker Komandarev also received the best actress prize, for Eli Skorcheva; and a non-statutory Grand Prize from the ecumenical jury.
The main Grand Prix from the Crystal Globe jury consists of $25,000, to be shared equally between the director and producers, the latter of which are Komandarev and Katya Trichkova.
Scroll down for the full list of winners
Blaga’s Lessons had its world premiere at Karlovy Vary; it follows a teacher who loses her life savings in a phone scam; and so turns the tables to earn money by becoming a scammer herself.
The $15,000 Special Jury Prize went to Behrooz Karamizade’s Iranian-German co-production Empty Nets, about a young couple fighting to keep their true love alive in the forbidding world of contemporary Iran. Babak Jalali took best director for his US title Fremont.
Herbert Nordrum, star of Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person In The World, took the KVIFF best actor award for his role in Ernst De Geer’s The Hypnosis; with the film also receiving the Europa Cinema label award, which aims to promote the exhibition lifespan of a film from the Crystal Globe and Proxima competitions.
A Crystal Globe Special Jury Mention went to Cyril Aris’ Germany-Lebanon co-production Dancing On The Edge Of A Volcano; with Vincent Perez’s The Edge Of The Blade taking the audience award.
In the Proxima competition, Yoo Ji-young’s Birth took the $15,000 Grand Prix, with Saurav Rai’s Guras receiving a $10,000 Special Jury Prize.
The Eastern Promises industry awards were announced earlier this week, including Sahraa Karimi’s works-in-development winner Flight From Kabul.
Attendance increase
The 2023 festival was attended by 10,989 accredited guests – up 3.7% from last year. The number of festival passes (9,085), filmmakers (432) and accredited film professionals (942) were all up on last year.
123,517 tickets were sold for this year’s festival – up slightly from 121,015 last year. The number of films screened increased from 170 to 185; with an increase from 108 to 116 in the number of feature-length world premieres
This year’s honorary award recipients were Russell Crowe, of the Crystal Globe for outstanding contribution to world cinema; and President’s Award receipients Daniela Kolarova for cinematography, plus actors Alicia Vikander, Ewan McGregor and Robin Wright.
Karlovy Vary 2023 winners
Crystal Globe competition
Grand Prix – Blaga’s Lessons (Bul-Ger) dir. Stephan Komandarev
Special jury prize – Empty Nets (Ger-Iran) dir. Behrooz Karamizade
Best director – Babak Jalali for Fremont (US)
Best actress – Eli Skorcheva for Blaga’s Lessons
Best actor – Herbert Nordrum for The Hypnosis
Special jury mention – Dancing On The Edge Of A Volcano (Ger-Leb) dir. Cyril Aris
Audience award – The Edge Of The Blade (Fr) dir. Vincent Perez
Proxima competition
Grand Prix – Birth (S Kor) dir. Yoo Ji-young
Special jury prize – Guras (India-Nep) dir. Saurav Rai
Special jury mention – Brutal Heat (Cze-Slovakia) dir. Albert Hospodarsky
Europa Cinemas label – The Hypnosis (Swe-Nor-Fr) dir. Ernst De Geer
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